


Billy and Teddy's Eggcelent Adventure

by Lumelle



Series: Eggcelent Adventures [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Young Avengers
Genre: Alien Biology, Babies, Egg Laying, Eggs, Established Relationship, Hatchlings, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:25:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy is a mutant, just like his boyfriend. At least, that's what he thinks until one night he wakes up to find a freshly laid egg in his bed. Of course this happens while Billy is out on a mystical adventure with Dr. Strange, because it's not enough that one of them gets a very strange surprise.</p><p>Tony may enjoy the idea of building an AI-run incubator and Erik's powers may be useful for knitting for the great-grandbaby, but in the end it's Teddy and Billy who have to do the most preparation. And worrying. Teddy isn't sure he can worry quite enough.</p><p>At least he can stop that once the hatchling is there, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Panic

It was a popular misconception that Teddy was never unwell.

It was true that he couldn't remember ever being actually sick; he supposed it was one of the advantages of his mutation, with his body adjusting itself to adapt to whatever bugs might have come his way. And yes, he did recover from injuries faster than anyone, so much so that he usually was perfectly fine by the time Billy flew up to him to tell him off for being so stupid and getting himself in harm's way. Which was ridiculous anyway, everyone knew Billy himself was one of the worst when it came to taking stupid risks on the field, but Teddy always just stood and let him rant until it all turned into a relieved sigh and a kiss and an admonishment for him to never, ever do something that stupid ever again, do you hear me Altman. Teddy always promised, of course, and even as he did they both knew he would do it again, because he could survive things others might not and it would have been both stupid and possibly selfish not to take some risks that the rest of the team couldn't.

What could he say? His boyfriend was a worrier sometimes.

The point being, he didn't get sick or even truly injured, and because of that, people often thought he never felt anything but fine. That, however, was far from the truth. While he did avoid the more common causes of sickness and pain, his body happened to be in the habit of reminding him of any causes of stress with a variety of rather unpleasant symptoms. He got nauseous before important exams, headaches when he was exhausted, an ache at the base of his wings when they were anticipating a battle. And when he had to be without Billy, there was a constant dull ache that just wouldn't go away.

It wasn't triggered very easily, that would have been ridiculous, nor had it started right away when they first begun dating. It was only lately, when they were both grown up and Avengers and holy shit that was never going to stop being anything but amazing, that his body seemed to have taken the opinion that more than a couple of days spent away from Billy was a definite cause of distress. It thankfully didn't happen that often, a definite benefit of being in the same line of work and finally living together, but there had been a few times when circumstances had forced them to be apart for a while. And without fail, somewhere around the second to third day, his body began to ache.

It wasn't pain as such, more just a constant feeling that something was wrong, something was amiss. He knew pain, had felt more than his fair share of it even in their relatively short careers as Avengers, and this wasn't pain. He'd once listened to Billy's whining when he was sick, though, with everything feeling uncomfortable and unsettled and just this side of hurting, and the feeling certainly resembled what Billy had described in great detail.

It had been four days now since Billy had left, and Teddy couldn't settle down. Everything felt just slightly out of place, as though there was another form hiding just under his skin, trying to break free. He'd shifted into Hulkling for a while, hoping to ease his discomfort, but it hadn't done much. He was doomed to suffer while Billy and Dr. Strange were off on their mysterious journey to the Himalayas. The Andies? It involved mountains, Teddy knew that much, and it didn't involve him. Which was something he had accepted, yes, but not something he was going to like.

The others seemed to sense his unease, giving him space. It was almost the way they gave Bruce a wide breadth on a bad day, though with slightly less fearful glances. Tony didn't seem to make any difference, but then he hardly even showed himself, only surfacing from his lab for a cup of coffee every now and then before hiding away again. Steve was starting to despair, Teddy knew as much, but it wasn't like they could do anything about it. There hadn't been any action for a while, and that always got Tony obsessed with some project or another. Soon enough there would be another attack of mutated octopus insects on Manhattan, or a magical castle would surface in the bay, and they'd all be up and running into the field except that Billy still wouldn't be there.

No, Teddy wasn't feeling well at all.

Tommy approached him at one point, asking him if he'd like to accompany him and Kate to the movies, and Teddy could see Kate some ways off watching him so apparently this was a joint offer for company instead of just a spectacularly stupid dating faux pas on Tommy's part. He declined, though. It wouldn't have helped at all to see Billy's twin with his girlfriend while he was so absolutely, woefully alone.

Besides, they were going to see the new War Machine movie. He'd already seen it three times.

By the fifth day the ache was starting to focus itself, gathering deep in the pit of his stomach. Teddy might have worried about it more if not for the fact that an alert came in the middle of breakfast, calling them all to action. It wasn't winged octopuses or the castle of an evil wizard, but Teddy frankly wasn't sure he liked the idea of cars coming to life any more. It was less Transformers and more Christine, but at least he had more than enough distractions. Cars being what they were, half the team concentrated on getting civilians out of the way, while the actual destruction of the foes was left to the heavy hitters, Teddy included. He crushed cars and blocked routes alongside Thor and Hulk and Iron Man until finally Falcon reported he had found the cause of the incident, a disgruntled young man who had perfected a device for hacking cars.

Teddy was not going to ask just how any form of hacking could turn ordinary cars into semi-sentient killer machines. Tony griped about the nonsensicalness of it enough for the both of them on the way home.

They didn't get back to the Tower until late afternoon, which, really, that was just terrible. He hadn't even had the chance to finish his breakfast, and by now he was starving, the ache of missing Billy mixed with the discomfort of an empty stomach. He might not have been quite as badly off as Bruce, but his abilities took a lot of energy as well. Thankfully everyone else agreed on the necessity of food, and by the time they got home Pepper had already taken the liberty of ordering enough pizza to feed a small army or just about all Avengers.

This should have been nothing but a relief, except it was in his haste to get to the food that he realized he couldn't shift back.

He managed to stay calm, and nobody else seemed to pay much attention, everyone too exhausted and hungry to worry about anything but getting some food and rest, themselves. It wasn't entirely unprecedented for him to be in his Hulkling form in the tower, anyway, and while he did get a quizzical glance or two nobody cared enough to actually question him about it.

It'd sort itself out soon enough, he was sure. He was just tired and hungry and this form was stronger so his body decided to cling to it despite his wishes to the contrary, which was annoying but not actually cause for concern. It wasn't like his abilities hadn't been stubborn before.

Of course, back when he'd still had trouble on a regular basis he'd been just learning the basics, but clearly that was unimportant. At the very least, it wasn't worth the trouble of adding his worried nausea to the ever growing ache of not having Billy at his side.

He excused himself once he'd eaten, everyone still failing to question him as he strode off all big and green and scaly. It thankfully wasn't a long way to the room he shared with Billy, and as soon as he got inside, he walked over to the bed and collapsed down on it. He was tired and aching and Billy wasn't there, and he didn't want anything as much as sleep.

Sleep would definitely be a good idea.

He woke up some time in the wee hours of morning, feeling absolutely dreadful. He was cold, too, and something wasn't right. Turning to his side, he suddenly realized what disturbed him. The sheets under his hand were wet.

This did not make sense. He was not in the habit of wetting his bed, thank you very much, not even in exhaustion. However, the sheets were definitely damp to the touch. Sitting up, he blinked in the semi-darkness.

He was back in his usual form, too. That wasn't quite as weird, he did sometimes return to his basic form when sleeping, but it didn't help him feel any less uneasy about the whole affair. Running a hand through his hair, he leaned on his other hand to the side, which was when his hand brushed against something that absolutely did not belong in his bed. Something hard and smooth, and no, he was not going to have any inappropriate thoughts about that.

"JARVIS?" Teddy held his breath. "Lights, please."

At once the lights turned on, leaving him blinking for a second. Then he turned to look at his side, and was left staring.

There was an egg in the bed beside him. It was definitely an egg, he knew that, though it was quite a bit larger than anything he had ever encountered in breakfast table. It lay on its side in the bed, as though knocked over, next to where his legs had been. Had he kicked it in his sleep? And where had it come from in the first place?

"JARVIS? Has anyone else been in my room?" This was a prank, right? Some strange trick of Tommy's, meant to distract him from his continued lack of Billy. Yes, that had to be it. Where had Tommy found such a big egg?

"Not since you arrived last night." Right, there went that theory.

Teddy reached a careful hand toward the egg, not sure how it would react. It didn't, which really shouldn't have surprised him. Eggs were not generally known for their tendency to leap into action. Or, well, anything, aside from sitting somewhere warm until they hatched.

Hatched. Was something going to hatch from this? This wasn't some kind of plastic decoration, he could tell that much. In fact, it felt very much like a normal egg. Which meant there might be something inside, something alive.

Teddy had seen his share of horror movies, knew all about what kind of monstrosities could lurk inside something as innocent as a giant egg. Especially one that seemed to have appeared all by itself in his bed in the middle of the night. At the same time, though, he couldn't help but imagine some helpless little creature inside, curled up within the shell, withering away in the cold. Dying, even, if it did not get warm soon, before it ever had a chance of hatching.

Yeah, like he was going to let that happen.

Teddy sat on the bed cross-legged, reaching to pull the egg into his lap. It definitely wasn't hollow, judging by the weight, though that still didn't tell him anything of what was lurking inside. Nevertheless, he let his wings unfurl even as the rest of him remained human, curling the appendages around the egg along with his arms. Hopefully it would be enough warmth for the creature to survive.

He couldn't stay like this, of course, for however long the egg was going to need. He also needed to figure out just what had happened and how he had ended up with such a surprise in his bed, which, yeah, wasn't going to be easy. Except it was the middle of the night and all the Avengers were doubtless in bed, exhausted from the battle the day before, and Billy wasn't here and oh that thought just wasn't going to get any better.

"JARVIS?" he asked quietly. "Could you make a call for me?" His phone was on the nightstand, of course, but this way he didn't have to let go of the egg.

"Certainly. Who do you wish to call?"

Who indeed? It wasn't like there were many choices of who he could call up in the middle of the night when he needed them. There was one, however, even not counting Billy, because Billy wasn't here and damn it he needed Billy right now.

"My mother."

*

It probably said something about life in the Avengers Tower that when Sarah Altman walked in at four in the morning, the only reaction she got was a polite nod from the security guard in the lobby.

Of course, what it mostly said was that nobody could have gotten in at such an hour without a proper key card, and in any case she would have never made it anywhere further than the lobby at this hour if she had been just anyone. The regular elevators were locked down outside business hours, and the one serving the top floors could only be operated by a few select people. A rather small number which, fortunately, happened to include her.

She hadn't made much sense of Teddy's call, merely that she should come over and he needed help. It wasn't the first time she had been woken at night by her son, but she had to admit it had been a while since it had last happened. Well, aside from that one time half a year back when Billy had been badly injured and Teddy had called her in tears, absolutely convinced he would lose the best thing to ever to happen to him and how would he ever cope? She had rushed over then, too, holding him close and murmuring reassurances while they waited for news.

This time, though, she knew the last battle had been wrapped up a while ago, there were no casualties reported on the news, and besides Billy wasn't even in New York at the moment.

Had something happened to Billy elsewhere? Was that why Teddy had been so out of sorts? But no, he hadn't been crying, hadn't even sounded as horrified as he would have been if some unknown threat had been hanging over his boyfriend. Frantic and uncertain, yes, rambling and making no sense, definitely, but not sad or scared.

Hopefully that meant this wasn't something terrible. Though considering he had called her at such an unreasonable hour, she wasn't going to make any bets just yet.

The elevator ride was just long enough to get her properly worried before depositing her in the topmost part of the Tower. She murmured a greeting to JARVIS, a habit she had quickly gotten into despite her rare visits here, and followed a line of lights in the otherwise dark corridor to Teddy's room. Whatever was going on, she would find out soon.

She knocked on the door and, receiving a quiet response, opened it. The lights were on as she stepped inside, looking for Teddy. He was huddled up in the middle of the bed, looking mostly human except for his wings, which were curled up in front of him.

"Teddy?" She walked closer, careful not to startle him. "Teddy, I'm here. What's wrong? I didn't really understand what you said on the phone."

"Mom?" Teddy turned to look at her, his eyes just this side of panicky. "Mom, I — I don't know what to do. Sorry for calling you so late, it's just — I can't —"

"Teddy, darling, calm down. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it together." She sat down on the edge of the bed and reached her hand to touch his shoulder. "You have to tell me what's wrong, though, or I can't help you."

"I... don't know. I mean, I don't know if anything's wrong, it's just..." He visibly sought for words, then gave up and settled for demonstration instead. His wings folded themselves neatly behind his back, revealing the object they had been hiding.

There was an egg in Teddy's lap.

For a moment, she just stared. It had been so long since she had seen one, it almost didn't seem real. However, as she reached a careful hand to brush against it, the shell was firm and solid under her fingertips. "Teddy... where did that come from?"

"I don't know." He looked at her with anxious eyes. "I woke up in the middle of the night and it was just lying there next to me."

"Right." She drew a deep breath. Panicking wouldn't help either of them, and in any case, she had brought this upon herself. She should have told him the truth ages ago. "Have you been feeling somewhat under the weather lately?"

"Ah, yeah. I just figured it was because Billy's away. I mean, I always feel worse when he's not here. You know how I get when I'm stressed."

"Yes, I know." Her fingers caressed the smooth shell of the egg. "Teddy... you know how you think you are a mutant?"

Teddy frowned. Obviously he had caught the implication hidden in her question. "Yeah?"

"It's not... quite like that." She sighed. "Actually, it's not like that at all. You're not a mutant any more than I am one. You are just... different."

"Different how?" His shoulders tensed. "And what does that have to do with any of this?"

"I'm assuming Billy and you don't really bother with condoms." The reddening of his cheeks was answer enough. "I rather thought so. Really, I suppose we're lucky this didn't happen earlier."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" His frown deepened, and then his eyes widened. "You can't mean..."

"Unlikely though it may seem, I believe you laid this egg."

"What?" Teddy's voice turned into a rather adorable squeak before he struggled to bring it back under control. "I mean... what? That makes no sense. For one thing, I'm male, and for another I'm not a bird. I mean, yeah, I've got wings, but I'm still pretty sure I don't qualify as a bird."

"No, you aren't. I'd say a lizard would be closer." Clearly, she had to get to the core of the issue. "Teddy, sweetheart, you are an alien. Of a race that lays eggs. Which you appear to have done."

He stared at her, uncomprehending.

"I'm one, too. You were in danger on our home planet, so I brought you here to keep you safe. I always intended to tell you once your abilities showed up properly, but then there were Tommy and Billy and their grandfather with their own explanation, and I thought it might be for the better if you didn't know. That you'd be safer that way."

He still didn't say anything, continuing to stare.

"I never imagined... well. I probably should have figured this might happen; sex and gender aren't exactly set in stone for our species, so I shouldn't have assumed it wouldn't come up. It's just, you've always had such a strong male identity, I didn't think this could happen by accident. I thought I'd wait until you and Billy started actually talking about having children and then mention this as an option."

"Mom, that's not funny." That was... not the response she had expected. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but I'm kind of freaking out here. That's not helping."

"I'm not joking." Well. Perhaps a demonstration was in order. It had been a while since she'd had any cause to use her abilities, but with a bit of concentration, she managed to call up her actual form.

The shock in his eyes made it clear she had succeeded.

"I'm telling the truth, darling." She touched his arm in what she hoped was a soothing way. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, I was just trying to keep you safe. To keep things simple. I should have told you, but I didn't, and now this has happened because you didn't even know it was a possibility."

"You mean... this actually is my egg?" Teddy drew it even closer to his chest. "Mine and Billy's?"

"Unless someone sneaked in here during the night and planted a perfect replica in your bed for some reason, yes, I believe so. It's not unheard of for our people to breed across species. I'm sure you've noticed that we are very adaptable." That, and Teddy himself was proof of such capability. Not that she was going to mention that right now; the poor boy probably had enough on his plate already.

"So there's a baby in here?" His voice got very quiet now. "An actual, live baby?"

"I believe so, yes." She resumed petting the egg. Not that the child inside could feel it, but it soothed her own nerves somewhat. "It's going to take a while to hatch, though. And to survive that long, it's going to need to stay warm."

"We haven't even talked about it yet." Teddy didn't get more specific, but it was rather clear just what he was talking about. "I mean, we've always kind of assumed we're going to have a family at some point, but it's always just been somewhere in the future. It's not like we knew we could be trying, or something. It's — oh, God, what's Billy going to say? What if he doesn't want a child yet, what if he doesn't ever want one? What do I do if he doesn't want it? I can't live without Billy, I know I can't, but I can't just abandon my baby and Christ, mom, there's something alive in here and —"

"Teddy, darling, calm down." She sighed. "I know this wasn't in any way planned, but I'm sure Billy will be delighted. You'll just have to figure this out together, but I'm sure he'll be just fine with it once the first shock wears off. It's not like you had any warning, either, and you two did both have a part in the process of making this happen."

"Uh." Teddy flushed again. "I. Right."

"Indeed." She sighed. "Well. Billy's out of town, right? How long is it until he returns?"

"Ah... couple of weeks, I think." Teddy closed his eyes momentarily. "He's off with Doctor Strange on some mystical errand or another that Strange wants him to learn about. Which means I know he's going to be fine, it's not like a protector can get much more badass than that, but it also means we probably can't contact them before they're back."

"Good." At his shocked expression, she sighed. "Don't look like that. I understand you'd like to talk with Billy about this, I really do, but it's not like he can help you either way until he returns, and it would just make him worry needlessly. It's better if we figure out the practical side of things now and then you can discuss the future in more detail once he returns."

"Practical matters?" He blinked at her. "What's there to figure out before Billy returns?"

"Well, it will take several months for the egg to hatch. Were you planning to sit hugging it all the time? Or maybe grow yourself a pouch to keep it in? Some do that, but it can get in the way, and besides it can be somewhat risky."

"Ah. Right." Teddy looked down at the egg, his expression somewhere between dread and wonder. "Mom? I still don't know what to do."

"You'll figure it out, dear." At least she certainly hoped so.

Really, she only had herself to blame.

*

"So, let me get this straight." Steve looked at him over the table, his expression as serious as though they had been discussing a terrorist threat. "You're not a mutant but an alien. From space."

"Correct." His mother wasn't here, as she'd had to leave for work, which left him woefully alone until she got back. At least some members of the team would probably take some time to wake up, so he didn't have to face them all at once. Which also meant he'd have to explain things several times, but he figured that would get easier with repetition.

God, he hoped it would get easier.

"And because of your alien biology, you have laid an egg. A fertilized egg, from what I understand. With a baby inside."

Teddy bit his lip, arms tightening just a bit around the egg in his lap. His mother had assured him it could wait until they had a proper incubator ready with no harm done, but he couldn't help the feeling that if he set it aside something dreadful would happen. "That's what it looks like, yes."

"And this egg is going to hatch to reveal said half-alien baby around when?"

"Uh. In four months or so? Apparently it can vary a bit, depending on how long, ah, how long it has been developing inside. Inside me." And wasn't there a weird thought.

"How does that even work?" Clint had been leaning against the kitchen counter, mostly silent while he clutched his coffee. "I mean, I know you get all big and scary sometimes, and you're not a small boy even in human form, but that thing's not exactly tiny. How'd it fit inside without anyone noticing?"

Teddy sighed. "You know how my body can rearrange itself? Apparently that includes shrinking my internal organs to make way for the egg. And it's been pretty soft and pliable until now; the shell hardening was probably the reason I couldn't shift back from my Hulkling form yesterday. I mean, I'm not claiming to understand this, either."

"Still. That thing grew inside you and then you laid it." Clint shook his head. "Fuck, you're probably lucky you did that in your sleep, because I really don't want to imagine the details of the process."

"Clint, please." Steve sighed and looked at Teddy. "So, what now? Are you going to make a nest, or how are you going to do this?"

"Ah. My mom said I should probably set up an incubator, something with monitoring for temperature and humidity and stuff. That makes sure the hatchling develops properly, and I won't have to either sit still or carry this thing around until it hatches."

"That sounds like a good idea." And all of a sudden the serious look was away, replaced by a smile. "Oh, Tony's going to love doing that. You'll probably have the most high-tech incubator there ever was."

"You can bet your ass on that." Clint chuckled. "Ten bucks says he'll put in a JARVIS feed so it can sing lullabies to the baby."

"Wait, that's it?" Teddy blinked. "You're not... freaked out or anything?"

"Should we be?" Steve stood up and headed to the coffee machine to fill his cup. "Sure, it's a surprise, but really, it's not that different from anyone else getting in a family way. Maybe we didn't know just how different your biology is, but then we were already aware you don't work the way most humans do. I don't see any reason why this should be any different from, say, Kate announcing she's having a child, except in this case we don't have to worry about how long you can still be in the field."

"Oh, please, Cap. This is totally different," Clint snorted. "For one thing, Teddy is actually a responsible individual. I mean, not that Hawkette isn't, she's awesome and I won't hear anyone saying otherwise, but her having a kid would most likely mean Tommy's the father and that's just a disaster waiting to happen. Billy, though, will panic for a day or two and then turn into a totally awesome dad without us having to worry about anyone getting dropped on their head."

"Tommy's not that bad." Teddy paused, his prior experience with Tommy dueling with the automatic loyalty he felt he owed to his almost brother-in-law. "Well. Most of the time he isn't."

Steve cleared his throat. "In any case. You're an adult, Teddy, and so is Billy. If the two of you are going to be parents, I frankly think the only thing any of us has to say is congratulations."

"I'll do you one better." Clint smirked. "I'll help you hide if Billy's absolutely terrifying grandfather decides you've somehow besmirched his little darling's honor."

"Oh, God." Teddy could feel himself paling. "I hadn't even thought of that."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure." Steve sent Clint a long-suffering look. "He's probably just going to be delighted to get a grandkid. Well. Great-grandkid." Teddy couldn't exactly fault him for faltering, there. Sure, Erik was technically the twins' grandfather, but he had raised them since they were babies, so the lines were a bit blurred there. He certainly acted mostly like a father, having much the same role in the dynamics of the team as Teddy's mom did the rare times she visited the Tower.

He still hadn't quite recovered from his first meeting with a very suspicious, very judgmental Erik who had very much doubted whether anyone could be good enough for his darlings, mutant or no. Which reminded him he probably should have been panicking about the fact that it now turned out he wasn't a mutant after all, but frankly, he had enough to worry about as it was. Erik had come to accept Kate, after all, surely he could continue to approve of Teddy even if he wasn't a mutant. Or human.

He was going to be so dead.

"Let's hope so." He sighed. "And if not, well, you guys will help Billy with the single parent gig, right? I'd hate to think he's left all alone when I am suddenly and violently removed from this world."

"Now, stop being silly, Teddy. Nothing like that is going to happen and you know it." Steve gave him a bright smile, the patented Captain America shine of positive thoughts and a happy future, and yeah, that actually kind of helped. "Now, I'm going to make breakfast. It's always kind of dreary to make plans on an empty stomach. Anything in particular either of you two want? I'm giving you first picks since you're the only ones here at the moment."

Teddy still wasn't about to completely relax, but at least now, things didn't seem quite as terrible.

Of course, he still had the rest of the team to face, including his boyfriend's rather short-tempered, very protective older brother, who was not afraid to make his opinions known very loud and clear.

Well. He figured a good breakfast would help with that particular ordeal as well.


	2. Settle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the first panic over with, Teddy still has to share his news with the rest of the team. Including his boyfriend's brother, because things weren't awkward enough.
> 
> At least Tony is being helpful, in the one way he knows how.

By the time the next batch of Avengers arrived in the kitchen, Teddy was more or less finished with breakfast. This was most definitely a good thing, because he absolutely did not want to even try facing Tony Stark on an empty stomach.

Tony wandered in alone, his hair a mess but with a sharp look in his eyes that suggested he'd made a stop at his workshop before bothering to make a public appearance for the rest of the world. He made a beeline for the coffee, ignoring anything and everything in favor of finishing up his first cup. It wasn't until he'd taken on a second cup that he turned around, looking over to where Teddy sat, the egg still in his lap.

"That." He paused, frowning just a bit. Perhaps not quite so sharp after all, before the caffeine kicked in. "That is an egg."

"Yes, it is." No, he was not going to be nervous, not even as Natasha sauntered into the kitchen, merely raising an eyebrow at them before taking advantage of the piles of breakfast food Steve had prepared for everyone.

"An egg of what?" Tony waved one hand in the air as though looking for invisible words that were just barely avoiding his grasp. "A creature. An animal. What animal's egg is that?"

"Uh." Teddy felt the faintest little blush rising to his cheeks. "It's, ah, my egg, actually."

"Your egg." Tony's eyes widened just a fraction, the inspecting gaze turning into a stare. "As in, an egg you happen to own?"

"As in, an egg I laid. Apparently. In my sleep." No, it was not getting any easier with repetition.

"Right." Tony took a long sip of his coffee, appearing to turn this over in his mind before he spoke again. "Any particular reason you have apparently decided to join the very small ranks of oviparous mammals?"

"I'm not a mammal. Well, I think I'm not."

"And what are you instead?" What, no claims that he was joking or lying or had hit his head?

"A reptilian space alien. Apparently the shapeshifting is a racial feature and not a mutation. Or something, I'm really not too clear on it all."

"I see." Another long sip, during which nobody said anything. "And I'm assuming Billy's the other parent? I mean, there is an other parent, isn't there? Unless you go for virginal reproduction, which, wouldn't that be a hoot."

"Ah, yes. Well, far as I know, he is. I certainly have no alternative theories to present."

"The boy's in for a surprise when he gets home, then." Tony emptied the cup and filled it a third time, then glanced up at the ceiling. "JARVIS? We still have that spare environmental control system I made for the latest suit prototype? It should still have the sensors at least."

"I believe it is still in your workshop, Sir." JARVIS, at least, appeared entirely calm. Good thing one of them was. Teddy didn't even know what to think about Tony's reaction, or rather lack thereof. Maybe he just hadn't woken up enough yet?

"Excellent. Have the bots take it to the nearest table, I think I should be able to make some adjustments. How big is that thing? Oh, we can work with that, definitely. I'll make it a portable unit so we can put it in your bedroom instead of getting it stuck in the workshop, I'd rather not conduct empirical tests on the effects of constant classic rock on the development of embryos."

"What are you talking about?" Teddy blinked.

"Incubator. That's what you do with eggs, right? I suppose your body temperature will be good to start, I'll ask Bruce about that, he should have the baseline data for all team members tucked away somewhere. Oh, and measure that thing when you have the time, we want a nice, snug base so it doesn't fall over or whatever."

"Okay, I'm kind of starting to freak out here about how calm you all are about this." Not that he'd wanted people to get upset or disgusted or whatever, but he hadn't expected quite this level of, well, indifference. "I mean, none of you find anything odd about this? I laid an egg. That's not exactly normal."

"Kid, you might remember we spent half of yesterday fighting against animated cars, so any attempt to call our lives normal is bound to fall apart sooner or later. Also, I've long since given up on understanding exactly how your shifting works with all the added and subtracted mass. That breaks the laws of physics and I've been forced to accept that as an everyday occurrence despite the fact that it makes my scientist's soul bleed. Laying eggs is something that a lot of species do. In comparison, I find it much easier to accept the latter." Tony paused. "Also, I'm still kind of out of it after yesterday. I may have to reserve the right to come right back shouting obscenities and talking a mile a minute once it all sinks in. In the meantime, I'm going to do the one thing I'm better at than any of you and handle the technical side. I'll leave the mushy emotional stuff to the rest of you." With that and a quick salute with his cup, he walked out of the kitchen.

Teddy stared after Tony for a moment. Then he looked at the rest. Natasha, whose only action so far had been to fill her plate and sit down at the table, met his gaze.

"Don't look at me. I had to deal with having a tail for half of last month, and I don't regularly change my shape. You decide to have magical alien egg babies, just tell me when the baby shower is going to be so I can show up with baby's first knife." She was kidding about the last bit. Teddy was pretty sure she was, in any case. Natasha had Views about weapons in the hands of the untrained, young, or irresponsible. Said views mostly translated to "give that to me before one of us hurts you."

"So." Bruce walked into the kitchen, yawning a bit. He tended to crash pretty hard every time the Other guy had made an outing, and apparently whatever amount of sleep he'd had was not quite sufficient yet. Nevertheless, he managed to shuffle through the kitchen to scavenge the rest of Steve's bacon. "Any particular reason Tony said something about adding new members to the team when I passed him in the corridor? Because I swear, if he's offered another cute hopeful a spot on the team because he thinks that's an acceptable form of light flirting, I'm going to make a sign announcing his ineligibility to make such decisions on his own and staple it to his forehead."

"Wow. That's surprisingly irritable for you, Doc." Clint smirked a bit, glancing between Bruce and the egg. The good doctor didn't seem to have noticed anything yet.

"What can I say? I'm always angry, I thought you knew. And I'm especially angry when Tony decides to make me the one to explain to his random encounters that no, actually, well-kept nails and a fairly impressive roundhouse kick isn't good enough for a spot on the roster." With his plate loaded, he started to the direction of the living room. "So, you know, if someone like that shows up, I'm not going to be the one to talk to them."

"Nah, it's nothing like that." Clint's smirk just widened at Bruce's back. "Teddy and Billy just decided to procreate."

"Oh, well, that's fine, then." Bruce actually made it all the way out of the kitchen before he turned around, eyes wide. "Wait, what?"

Teddy saw Natasha waving towards him just before he hid his face in his hands. "Alien instead of a mutant. Lays eggs, or at least one so far. Current theory is Billy's responsible for fertilizing that one. Far as we know, no chest-bursting is to be expected any time soon."

"Ah, right." Bruce blinked once, twice. "Well... congratulations, then?"

Right. Obviously, their lives were too weird to leave them with any sort of a healthy respect for truly odd things.

Somehow Teddy managed to make his way back to his room without utterly despairing of his team's diminished capacity for understanding the strangeness of his situation. There wasn't really anything he could do right now except keep an eye on the egg, and he could just as well be comfortable while doing so. Besides, his sleep had been cut rather short, and all this worrying wasn't doing him any favors, either.

Of course, the door burst open just as he'd managed to close his eyes, curled up around the egg to keep it safe and secure.

"What is this I hear?" Tommy stood in the doorway, Kate peering behind his shoulder. Which meant she had likely held him back, as there was no way she could have kept pace with Tommy in a straight corridor. "Did Billy actually knock you up?"

"Tommy, please." Teddy winced. "A little less shouting? I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I'd have wanted to."

"Just ignore the idiot." Kate stepped into the room past Tommy, her eyes immediately settling on the egg. "Well. It seems Clint wasn't speaking entirely out of his ass."

"Is that it?" Tommy was beside the bed in a flash, crouching down for a closer look. "That's the egg? Is it actually real?" Teddy felt a strong urge to growl at him and tell him to get away, even though he knew Tommy wouldn't actually do anything that might hurt the egg. Well, he probably wouldn't. Not intentionally, anyway.

"It's as real as I can tell." He sighed, sitting up again. Clearly sleep would have to wait another moment. "Also, my mom says it's definitely real. According to her, I hatched from a similar one, and, well, she would know, right?"

"I suppose so." Kate settled on the edge of the bed, clearly curious but a little less frantic about it than Tommy was. "And you had no idea you were carrying an egg?"

"Are you kidding me?" Teddy groaned. "I had no idea I was anything but a perfectly ordinary mutant. Well. For what passes as ordinary for mutants, anyway. And even if I had known I'm some kind of weird reptilian alien, I still wouldn't have expected this, because I'm supposed to be a guy."

"Yeah, I've certainly been under that impression." Tommy threw an exaggerated suspicious gaze toward his midsection. "Does Billy know about this?"

"I didn't know until I woke up last night with the egg, myself. How exactly do you suppose I'd have let him know?" Teddy grimaced. "He — how do you think he's going to react?"

"Eh, knowing baby bro? There's going to be rambling. And probably tears. And then he's going to beat himself up for not being here for you when it happened, and five minutes after that the two of you will be in the middle of an argument about which superhero you should name your kid after. I get that you're kind of weirded out here, but seriously, Altman. The guy adores you more than's probably healthy. I'm kind of surprised he doesn't already have a baby name list tucked away somewhere, and I only know that because I snoop around his things. Ow!"

"Shut up." Kate waved the hand she had just swatted Tommy's shoulder with. "Teddy, there's no reason to worry and you know it. Sure, Billy's probably going to be a bit freaked out at first, but no more than you are. He's definitely not going to get mad at you because something the two of you did together had an unexpected result because of something you had no idea about."

"Yeah, he's not entirely unreasonable about most things. That, and as I said, he's crazy about you. Your hardest conversation regarding this little freak accident will probably be about how many times you hope to replicate the results in the future."

"But — it's not that simple." It never was, however much he might have wished so. "I mean, we've kind of got an understanding that we're going to have a family some day, but that's it. Some day. Not when we're a year out of high school and still trying to figure out how this superhero business is going to fit into our lives."

"Eh. Way I see it, you've got a team full of babysitters at hand." Tommy waved a hand. "I mean, it's not for me, I'm not going for kids until I'm at least thirty. Thirty's pretty ancient, right? But I bet the two of you are totally going to be sappy and sweet and spoil the kid rotten and somehow manage not to mess it up for life."

"So you're not angry?"

"About what? I mean, yeah, poor Billy's virtue is compromised or whatever, but then I've known that for years and I'm not enough of a hypocrite to complain about that. Believe me, if I had any objections to this, I would've had objections much earlier in the relationship. You make him happy, that much is plain to see. As long as you continue to do that, I'll kick anyone who tries to separate you two."

"Even if that involves surprise alien babies?"

"And? He fell for you, didn't he? If he wasn't open to the idea of little green babies he probably wouldn't be so keen on your other half, either, but he seems to have no problem with kissing and cuddling Hulkling, so it's not like he's going to be disgusted. As for me, as long as I'm not expected to change smelly diapers, it's really none of my business what genital configurations you try out or what might result from them."

"And if he tried to make it his business, I would set him straight." Kate smiled. "I know you're worried, Teddy. And really, that's a good thing; it means you care about Billy's opinion. But really, you shouldn't be this frightened about the whole deal. It might seem daunting now, but it'll be fine in the end."

"That would sound a whole lot more reassuring if I didn't know that in this case, 'in the end' pretty much translates to 'some eighteen years from now, when the kid is ready to move out.'"

"Maybe so, but I have faith in you. You and Billy both, as it happens. This will turn out just fine in the end. Really, the biggest problem will be how exactly you're going to handle the birth certificate for a child with no female parent to speak of, but I'm sure the rest of the team can help us figure that out."

"Don't get that far ahead just yet." Teddy sighed, running his hand along the side of the egg. "Right now, I'm still kind of freaking out about the idea of somehow managing to keep this thing alive for the next four months or so."

"Well, your mother can help with that, can't she? And all the rest of it. She's raised you, after all, it can't be all that different even if the baby has a bit more human in it." Kate paused. "And I just realized this means your mom is an alien too. That's not something I would have called."

"You don't think I know?" Teddy gave an even heavier sigh. "Apparently she'd planned to tell me when my shifting came in properly, but by then I'd already met Billy and convinced myself I was a mutant and she decided not to muddy the waters further. Which, I guess I can see her point because I would have been even more freaked out about it at fifteen, but it might have been nice to know about this particular possibility."

"Well, it's kind of useless to worry about that now that the thing's already here." Tommy shrugged. "Look on the bright side, though. At least there isn't a lot of family on our side that'd require explanations about surprise babies."

"No. Just your absolutely terrifying grandfather. I spent enough time worrying about getting castrated for daring to go near his poor little grandson back when we first started dating. I really don't want to imagine what he'll do when he finds out I actually did the impossible and brought a baby into the mix."

"Oh, please." Tommy snorted. "He just scared you at the beginning because if you'd run from that, you wouldn't have been good enough for Billy anyway. You've been accepted to the family now, so he won't get into that shit again."

"This might change the circumstances, though."

"How so? I don't exactly see you fleeing and leaving Billy alone with the kid, which he definitely would object to. Having a kid, though, that's a different story. I mean, he may not have been all that happy about all of our mother's decisions, but that doesn't mean he hates us."

"Thanks. A reminder of your family history is exactly what I needed while dealing with this." He still didn't know the full story, despite having been with Billy for years now, mostly because the twins themselves weren't entirely certain of the details. Their mother had given birth to twin sons, then had some kind of a breakdown, leaving her father to care for the children. She only made very occasional appearances in their lives now, and seemed to mainly fill the role of a distant aunt, with all parenting falling upon Erik. They didn't blame her, and knew she hadn't been able to care for them at the time, but it still didn't make it an example of stellar parenting.

He thought of the unseen little baby curled up inside the shell, hidden from everyone and so very vulnerable, and imagined having no choice but to leave that tiny life in someone else's hands. The mere idea filled him with a kind of dread he couldn't seem to shake.

Kate seemed to catch on to this, as she touched Tommy's shoulder. "Come on, Tommy. I think we should let Teddy get some sleep now. Besides, we never did have breakfast."

"Right." Tommy looked at Teddy, then, and his expression turned unusually serious. "Hey, Teddy. Don't think of it like that, okay? I mean, yeah, some people maybe think our family's kind of fucked up, but it works for us. And if nothing else, it proves our grandpa loved us enough to put up with us for eighteen years and still let us drop by every now and then. You really think he's going to mess with the one thing that makes Billy happier than anything just because it now happens to come in two parts?"

Well. He supposed that was one way of looking at it.

Maybe, if he focused on that thought, he could actually sleep for a moment instead of driving himself insane with worry.

*

Tony didn't emerge from his workshop until late in the evening, a grin on his face and a somewhat worrying gleam in his eyes.

"Ah, my favorite teddy bear!"

"Tony?" Teddy wasn't quite startled by the sudden cry, but it was a near thing. He had been curled up at the end of a couch in the living room, listening to his mother discussing the details of his heritage with Steve. It was all quite fascinating, for all that she still seemed a bit hesitant to share quite so much, but he really couldn't focus very well right now.

"Myself, in all my glory." Tony breezed across the room, coming to a halt in front of the couch. Teddy somehow got the feeling he was only barely resisting the urge to bounce up and down on his toes. "I'm done!"

"Done with what?" Then, after a second of thought, Teddy blinked. "Done with the incubator?"

"Precisely." Tony waved his hand toward the door. "Shall we? I'm sure you can leave the egg with your dear mother for a little while, I made the whole thing as portable as possible but I'd still appreciate a little more muscle for relocating the end result to your room."

"Right." Teddy glanced at his mother, whose conversation with Steve seemed to have halted. "Ah, Mom?"

"Give it here." She reached out her arms, smiling as Teddy very carefully handed her the egg. She cradled it close to her chest as one might have done with an actual baby. "Oh, I still remember when you were still in your shell."

"I'll gladly help move the incubator as well." Steve stood up, all earnest gaze and bright smile.

"Ah, really, there's no need for you to bother. I'm sure I can handle it by myself." Teddy rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to feel too embarrassed. He could handle being the center of attention in very small doses, but the entirety of today, especially with the somewhat delicate reason for all the attention, was getting to be a bit much.

"I'm sure you could. However, I'd rather like a peek at it." Steve flashed him another smile before following Tony's imperious lead out of the room, and really, how could he say no to that?

"Go on, dear. I'll get the baby to your room." Teddy's mother waved him off. "Really. I know you're worried, but you'll have to learn to leave it out of your sight every now and then."

"I know. It's just…" He didn't know what he was going to do, didn't know anything really, but what he was certain about was that he was not going to allow the egg to come to any harm. Even though he knew he could trust his mother beyond any doubt, it was still somewhat difficult to walk out of the room, giving one last backwards glance at the egg.

Tony's workshop was messy as usual when he was in the middle of a project, but Teddy's eyes found the object of interest immediately. There was a somewhat futuristic-looking device sitting on one of the work tables, all clean white lines and rounded corners.

"I have to say, that's pretty." Steve nodded in approval. "And rather well done in just one day."

"Yeah, well, I recycled most of the system out of old suit elements, so I mostly just needed JARVIS to get the casing manufactured and patch it all together." Tony patted the side of the device. "I was thinking black with red and green accents, to match the costumes of both the daddies, but white seemed more appropriate for a baby appliance. I mean, that's what it is, right? Since it's used for a baby, or at least a potential one."

"I, ah, I suppose?" Teddy was almost afraid to get any closer. "So this can keep the egg warm and safe?"

"Guaranteed." Tony gave a very decisive nod. "These two dials here control the inside temperature and humidity. They're shown on this screen here, plus I told JARVIS to monitor the sensors so he can alert you if the values go off too much for whatever reason. I thought of making it capable of turning the egg automatically, since JARVIS says that's usually part of incubation, but I figured you'd rather do that yourself."

Steve nodded, and it really was a bit weird that at least for now he seemed to know more about the process than Teddy did. "Your mother said you'll want to turn it a few times a day so the hatchling develops right. We should probably make sure everyone knows how to do it if you're out on a mission or something. JARVIS can keep track and make sure we turn the egg at regular intervals, right?"

"I most certainly can, Captain." JARVIS sounded rather calm and collected. At least someone would be. "Might I suggest also marking the sides of the egg? The sources I have found on incubating the eggs of various Earth species do recommend that as a way of keeping track."

"Oh, that's a brilliant idea!" Steve smiled. "That way nobody will get confused on whether the egg's been properly turned."

"There's a window on the door for checking in on the egg at other times," Tony added, pointing at it. "That way you don't need to disturb the warm air just to peek in."

"Right." Teddy peered in through the small window, then blinked. There seemed to be some kind of an emblem at the back wall of the incubator, blue and white. "What's that?"

"Oh?" Tony glanced in, then shrugged. "Oh, that's the arc reactor." His fingertips tapped against the glowing circle in the middle of his chest. "Well, a picture of one, anyway. It was Dummy's fault, he insisted on painting it on while we were assembling the thing. Don't worry, I made sure he used non-toxic paint."

"Why would he do that?"

"Well, he did save my life once by bringing me an old arc reactor. Since then, he's been convinced the reactor is good luck. He probably thought it'll help the egg stay healthy, too. You should be lucky he didn't insist on making it some green sludge as well."

Steve raised his eyebrows. "Are you actually saying your robot has superstitions?"

"What can I say?" Tony gave a dramatic sigh. "I try to make them smart, and then they insist on stooping down to the level of humans. Wait, can I say that now? I mean, since we've technically got a non-human on the team. Is it racist to generalize sentient beings as humans? Er, speciesist?"

"I'm pretty sure I still count as culturally human or something, so I think you're in the clear." Teddy swallowed. He couldn't stop staring at the small emblem at the back of the incubator.

Steve must have noticed his mood, as he stepped closer, setting a hand on Teddy's shoulder. "Are you all right, son?"

"Just… a bit overwhelmed, I guess?" Teddy gave Steve a faint smile. "I mean, I still can barely believe this is happening, but everyone else seems to have accepted it without a problem. And now even Dummy is trying to help, and it seems like I'm the only one who doesn't have any idea what to do." His voice dropping, he murmured, "And Billy isn't here. He should be here."

"He'll get here soon enough." Cap squeezed his shoulder. "And you'll figure it out. Most new parents feel somewhat clueless at first."

"Okay, not that I'm advocating blind panic or whatever, but how exactly would you know?" Tony asked. "I mean, far as we know you don't have any kids. Unless what you're saying is that there's a little cap baby out there somewhere?"

"No, but there is a lady I sometimes talk to at the park who has a new baby. According to her the whole experience has been mildly terrifying."

"Oh? And do you often talk to strangers at the park, or are you angling for the stepdad position?" Tony waggled his eyebrows in what he probably thought was a suggestive manner but managed to be more along the lines of ridiculous.

Steve chuckled. "I'm pretty sure her wife would have something to say about the matter. No, she was walking her dog once when I was sketching in the park, and I helped her catch him when he slipped his leash. Ever since we've had a nice chat whenever we happen to be at the park at the same time. I even went to their baby shower, took a couple of Avengers onesies for the little one."

"Okay, I'm not entirely sure what's more mindblowing, the fact that you just happen to come across lesbians in need, or the mental image of Captain America in the middle of a group of tittering ladies cooing over baby socks."

"Indeed. I'm sure you wouldn't have been interested in the teeny tiny Iron Man socks at all." Then, as though Tony's eyes hadn't been bulging out as he scrambled for something to say, Steve turned toward Teddy again. "Of course you feel nervous, Teddy. It's a big responsibility; I'd be worried if you were entirely confident. That to me would definitely mean you aren't ready. You'll figure it all out sooner or later, though. And we'll all be here to help you do it, including Billy once he gets home."

"I certainly hope so." Teddy sighed. "If he doesn't want this, I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"Are you kidding me?" Tony blinked. "He's going to be over the moon, probably start trying to figure out how he's going to manage a white picket fence inside the Tower. Or trying to argue about why your kid should absolutely wear a cape once it grows up, honestly, I think he's getting a bit lonely as the only one on the team with a cape. Obviously any kid of yours is going to end up on the team in the end, it's going to be either a mutant or an alien or both. Wait, did you actually think he's not going to be happy?"

"I think we should get this to your room," Steve chuckled before Tony could launch into another tirade. "And after we've got the little one settled in, make sure Tony gets something else than just coffee into him. I know he claims to eat while he's down here, but I'm not entirely sure Dummy's sludge constitutes a full meal."

"See, this is why you're going to be all right," Tony said, folding his arms in a pretend huff even as Steve picked up the incubator as though it weighed nothing. "Captain Mother Hen here will probably turn out to be one of those people who make all-organic baby food from scratch because the stuff they sell at the stores isn't organic enough."

"Says the man who just spent a whole day putting together an incubator." Steve grinned, hefting it into a more secure position in his arms.

"Hey, that's absolutely necessary unless we want to lose one of our heavy hitters to literal brooding for the next few months. You should be thanking me, not mocking me."

"Oh, I'm thanking you, just pointing out you aren't quite as detached as you'd like to pretend."

"Building stuff is what I do best." Tony shrugged. "It's the division of labor in this silly little family. Uncle Tony builds stuff, Auntie Steve fusses, everyone is happy."

"I do hope you weren't hoping to insult me by using a feminine appellation. I know a few ladies who would have a word or two to say about that."

"Me? Never. Merely referencing stereotypical female behavior to make a humorous point while simultaneously pointing out this behavior is by no means restricted to the more beautiful half of the population. Believe me, if I wanted to insult you, I'd find much more effective ways of doing so." Tony grinned, clapping both of them on the shoulder. "Now, shall we go see about putting the egg to bed?"

It was, Teddy decided, still somewhat terrifying. However, with everyone helping, perhaps he could somehow keep it together until Billy came back.

After that, however, there were no guarantees.


	3. Share

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teddy finally shares the news with Billy and then Erik. In return, Erik reveals some details about the twins' background. Of course, Billy and Teddy still have to decide some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Please note:** This chapter contains references to character death, loss of a spouse and loss of children. These events happened in the past of the story, and are related here in a conversation. There is also discussion of mental problems and emotional/mental instability. Please read accordingly.

A part of Teddy would have rather appreciated a little warning.

It wasn't that he was upset about the schedule getting skewed in his favor, even if it was only by a day. However, the lack of communication meant there was no advance notice that the two magicians would be returning sooner than expected, which made rather pointless his continued exercise of counting days until the return of his boyfriend.

As luck would have it, he was in the meditation room at the time. The space was small, set aside by Tony for Bruce's meditation, its main and only feature the silence. The walls were soundproof, and any outside communication had been cut off. What this meant in practice that he was quite oblivious to the hubbub outside the walls as he tried to focus on the exercises Bruce had taught him, trying to contain all the worries that stubbornly refused to leave him be.

It wasn't until he finally stepped out, feeling somewhat less anxious at last, that JARVIS gently informed there was someone in the living room waiting to see him. After a momentary confusion, he found himself imitating Tommy as he rushed down the corridor in his haste to see. It couldn't be, it was too early, but JARVIS wouldn't have said so if —

Then he finally got to his destination, saw the dark-haired figure surrounded by the rest of the Avengers, and almost forgot to breathe. He stood in the doorway for a second, frozen in place, until a familiar voice called out to him.

"Teddy?"

It was Billy. Billy was back.

Teddy hardly even noticed the other Avengers filing out as he stepped closer, giving them something resembling privacy, as much as that could be achieved in the middle of the living room. All he cared about right now was Billy, standing there in front of him, tall and beautiful and grinning at him.

He hadn't changed a bit, yet there was something different about him. It was a common side effect of his trips with Dr. Strange, Teddy had come to notice. Billy always returned utterly unchanged on the outside, but something in the way he carried himself, in the look in his eyes, made it clear he was just that little bit more experienced and knowledgeable. It was a good look on him, mature and adult, and it made Teddy fall in love with him just that little bit more, as though that was even possible.

"So." And now Billy was talking, and the spell was broken for the moment. "Tommy said you had something to tell me? At least I'm pretty sure that's what he said, but I might be mistaken, he was going pretty fast and I'm not always perfect in interpreting that."

"Right. Ah." Teddy scratched the back of his head, trying to gather his thoughts. Damn, this shouldn't have been so difficult.

He had thought up an explanation in advance. It hadn't been perfect, he doubted there was anything that could be called the perfect explanation to such a mess, but at least it had covered all the most important things in a way that wouldn't leave him stumbling over his words and making a fool of himself. However, as Billy looked at him, his expression curious and happy and everything Teddy had missed these past few weeks, he found all such words fleeing his mind like rats from a sinking ship.

"We're going to have a baby." Well. Of all the stupid things he could have blurted out in desperation, that one was... not too bad, actually. At least it was true enough, even if the information value was still a bit lacking.

For a moment Billy looked at him, as though expecting some kind of a clarification. Then, as none was forthcoming while Teddy struggled to find the words to continue, his gaze drifted down to Teddy's stomach. And, that, no. Just no.

"Ah. Not like that." Teddy rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to look too embarrassed. Damn it, they were adults and they shared a bed in every sense of the phrase. It shouldn't have been a problem for him to talk about something this simple. "At least, not entirely? I mean..." He drew a deep breath. "Actually, let me just show you first. I promise you'll get to freak out later."

Billy just nodded, mute for the moment. Teddy supposed he couldn't blame him; he wasn't sure he would have had anything sensible to add in a similar situation, either. Hell, here he was grasping for words, and he at least had known beforehand that they would be having this discussion.

His life was absolutely ridiculous.

Billy took his hand easily enough, following him toward their room. Once or twice he looked like he was about to ask something, but Teddy shushed him each time. He wasn't sure he could handle any actual questions just yet, not right now. Better let Billy see the important bit so he could then focus on the how instead of the what. Or, really, on convincing Billy that, yes, he was telling the truth and no, he hadn't hit his head any time recently.

As they stepped into their room, Billy came to a halt. His eyes immediately fell on the incubator. "What's that?"

"Come and see." Teddy led him closer, but halted right before they got close. "Ah. Promise not to do anything too sudden?"

"I'll try." There was a frown on Billy's face, but he nodded. "Seriously, Tee. I'd appreciate some sort of an explanation, here."

Teddy drew a deep breath, then opened the door. Well. At least he wouldn't have to worry about this bit anymore.

Billy's eyes widened as he stepped closer, then fell to his knees. His eyes were locked on the egg, resting peacefully in its little nest. "Is that..."

"It's an egg." Teddy was having trouble keeping his voice audible, fighting against panic that tried to swallow his words. "Our egg. I, ah, turns out I'm an alien and not a mutant, and apparently we reproduce by laying eggs, and one night I just woke up to find this in the bed, and Billy could you please say something I'm kind of freaking out here?"

For another moment, Billy stared at the egg. Then he suddenly launched himself at Teddy, arms wrapping around his neck in a crushing hug while his feet dangled clear off the ground.

"Um." Teddy reached an arm around Billy, trying not to be too relieved just yet. "I take it you're not too mad at least?" As another while passed without a response, he swallowed. "Billy? ...God, Billy, are you crying?"

"We're having a baby." Billy slid down enough to get his feet back on the ground, his hands still locked behind Teddy's neck. "Is that true? There's a baby in there? Our baby?"

"Ah, it seems like it. It's not going to hatch for a few months, which I know isn't very much warning, but I didn't have much more than that, myself. Everyone else knows, which, I know you should have heard first, but I couldn't contact you and it's not like I could just hide it under my bed like a puppy until you got home, and besides I was kind of panicking so my mom came to help and Tony made the incubator and everyone's been really chill about this, really, it's kind of scary how nobody else seems out of sorts, and —"

"Teddy, love, you're rambling." Billy was grinning at him, though, setting a fingertip over his lips. "Of course I'm not mad. Why would I? It's not like you did something terrible."

"Yeah, but, it is kind of a shock." Nevertheless, Teddy managed a small smile now. "It certainly was one for me. And that was before I realized I'd have to explain this to Erik at some point."

"No reason to worry about that, silly. If he gets angry at anyone, he can be angry at me. I mean, technically I'm the one who knocked you up, right?" Billy chuckled. "I just can't wait until our baby hatches. Okay, really I can, there's still a ton we need to do before we're ready to care for a baby, but seriously, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"I have to admit I was a bit worried." Teddy sighed, though it wasn't quite as heartfelt as before. "I mean, I know we've had kind of an understanding that we're going to have a family some day, but that doesn't automatically mean you'd be fine with that day being so soon."

"Theodore Altman." Billy was clearly trying to affect an angry tone, but his eyes were shining, with excitement or tears or both. "I've been planning my future with you pretty much since the day you first said you liked me, and that's just because before that I thought you were way out of my league. And let me tell you, my first plans also didn't include becoming Avengers as soon as we turned eighteen, but that doesn't mean I wasn't overjoyed when that happened. Likewise, just because our plans for kids weren't set in stone yet doesn't mean I'm going to be anything but happy that it decided to happen ahead of schedule."

"It's a big change, though." And seriously, was he trying to fish for trouble here? "I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd wanted to, I don't know, enjoy life a bit longer before we get all settled down with a kid to look after."

"If you think I'm going to let us become boring and bored just because we have a kid, you'd better think again. Yeah, things will be different than if it were just the two of us, but that doesn't mean they have to be a bad different. We'll figure it out as we go, but I already know it's going to be great."

"That's good to hear." Teddy leaned down to steal a quick kiss, then made to close the incubator. Better not mess with the temperature too much.

"So." Billy was still grinning, though he did look a bit calmer now. "You haven't told my grandfather yet?"

"No. I mean, since he's not in the Tower much it was pretty easy to avoid, and I figured I'd better wait until you returned so we could tell him together. Kate promised to keep Tommy from telling him, and at least so far he hasn't stormed in demanding explanations so I'd assume she has succeeded."

"Right." Billy took on a thoughtful expression. "Well, before we do, there is one thing we probably should settle."

"Oh?" Teddy blinked. "And what's that?"

"What are we going to do if he insists that we get married before the kid is born?"

*

As it happened, they did not need to seek out Erik. They still hadn't discussed their planned visit beyond the merest abstract as they emerged from their room again just in time for dinner, hand in hand, only to almost literally run into him as they turned a corridor.

"Grandfather?" Billy squeaked, his hand squeezing Teddy's as they both stared at the familiar figure currently discussing something with Steve. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Billy." Erik turned towards them, and Teddy had to do his best not to shrink back. He had been convinced that Erik wished no harm to him as long as he kept Billy happy, and knew he more than could have taken the man in a fair fight, given that Erik had merely human strength and durability despite the fact he was rather more physically fit than a man his age had any right to be. The fact remained, however, that he simply couldn't help but be the slightest bit terrified whenever Erik gave him that particular sharp glance. "I heard you had come home. Of course I had to come by to make sure you are all right."

"I'm not some kind of a child, you know." Nevertheless, Billy stood still for an inspection as Erik stepped forward, setting his hands on Billy's shoulders to give him a critical look. "And I'm all right, I promise. You know Stephen wouldn't let me come to harm."

"He'd better not. I'm fully prepared to end up on the villain list for slaughtering the sorcerer if he drags you off on some mad venture and fails to bring you back in one piece." Not many people could have said that without any hint of hesitation while Captain America stood right there, but Erik didn't even blink. "So. I hear you didn't go for a nice young mutant boy after all?"

"Uh, apparently not?" Billy sounded a bit startled, not that Teddy could blame him. How much did Erik know. "Turns out Teddy's kind of an alien."

"Hm. Makes sense; I've met shapeshifters before but most of them only have one base form, and can't stick to a different form while unconscious." Erik glanced at Teddy with a curt nod. "So, is that what Tommy's been dying to tell me these past two weeks?"

"Huh?" Teddy blinked, scrambling for words. "Tommy — he hasn't—"

"Please. As though I don't know my kids." Erik shook his head. "Don't worry, he hasn't said a word, but the couple of times I've met him since Billy left he's obviously been bursting to say something specific. I suppose your not being human might account for it."

"Ah. That's not quite all of it." Teddy scratched the back of his neck. Think, Altman, think. Surely there is something you can think to say that won't get you skewered with sharp words alone.

"We're having a baby," Billy blurted, and Teddy was actually more relieved than shocked. "Uh. A hatchling. Teddy laid an egg and there's a baby inside and we're going to have a baby."

For a moment, Erik just looked at Billy, his expression unchanging. Then, he reached out to snatch Teddy by the wrist, starting to drag him away. "Right. I think it's time the two of us had a little talk."

"Grandfather!" Billy blurted. "What are you—"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to harm him. I'll return him in one piece and in time for dinner." With that, Erik continued striding on, dragging Teddy along with him. Not that he couldn't have broken off if he'd wanted, but somehow he got the feeling there was no avoiding this talk, whatever it was.

"Ah." Teddy tried not to fidget as he was abandoned in the middle of the structure Tony had the nerve to call a balcony, while Erik walked to the surrounding railing, leaning his hands against it. "Is this where you lecture me for ruining your baby boy?"

Erik snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. Billy is a grown man, and I'm under the impression there were two people involved in whatever process resulted in that egg. I do expect more details, just so you know, not about your sex life obviously but about this whole egg business and exactly when I can expect the new addition, but for now there are more pressing matters to attend to."

"So what is this about, then?"

"Do you know what happened to Wanda?"

"Huh?" Teddy blinked, surprised by the sudden question. "I… not the details, no. She had some kind of a breakdown, right? And that's why you raised Billy and Tommy."

"That's the short version of it, yes." Erik glanced up to the sky, his gaze staying very definitely away from Teddy. "And did you know she is a magic user as well?"

"No, I didn't." Teddy shook his head. "I mean, Billy did say he got his powers from her, but I always figured that meant she had electric powers and flight, too."

"Oh, no. The electricity part is from me, an offshoot of my magnetic powers. Wanda… she always had such beautiful magic." Erik paused. "The twins don't have a father."

"Yeah, Billy's told me." It had been one of the things in common they had first bonded over back in high school, along with their shared obsession for the then newly formed Avengers. "He said they don't even know his name."

"That's not quite it, though." Erik now glanced at him, his eyes cold but somehow not hostile. "They literally do not have a father. Not a biological one, anyway. Wanda is their only biological parent."

Teddy blinked. "You mean, they are some kind of clones?" That would certainly explain why they resembled their uncle so much.

"Not quite." Erik sighed, then turned his back toward the railing and leaned back against it. "Wanda… she fell in love. Except the man she loved was an artificial construct, an android. However, she was so desperate for children, she got pregnant by magic."

"That's possible?" Teddy could barely hear his own voice. "I mean… that's got to be incredibly powerful magic, that can't…"

"Oh, it is. She is one of the most powerful mages in the world, if one goes purely on the scale of raw power, and even then she couldn't do it without help. However, she got pregnant even when she shouldn't have been able to. She eventually had two beautiful sons, William and Thomas, and the four of them were happy. So incredibly happy, it was like nothing could ruin it for them."

"Except something did." He didn't have to guess. That was how stories like this always went.

"Indeed." Erik closed his eyes. "Her children died."

Teddy blinked, opening his mouth and then closing it again. It took him a moment to find his voice. "What do you mean?"

"Her children died." Erik opened his eyes again, and there was a pained look in them. "It turns out not even her magic was powerful enough to create souls out of nothing, and the pieces she had stolen to make her children were reclaimed, killing her sons in the process."

"But… wasn't that Billy and Tommy?"

"Yes and no." Erik looked incredibly old, now, old and tired. "Wanda was so crushed, she would stop at nothing to get her children back. In the end, she did manage to weave a spell that would bring them back into being, happy and alive, just as they had been. What she did not foresee, though, was that the price of her spell would be another soul taken to give them life. She was fortunate, or perhaps extremely unfortunate, in that there was one who would give himself willingly for the sake of her baby boys."

"Don't tell me…" His mind flashed to Wanda, just for a moment, but he rejected the thought immediately. No, Wanda was alive and well, he knew that much, had even met her a couple of times. The twins did have a mother even though she was almost never there.

They did not, however, have a father.

"Pietro was set against her marriage from the start. He always said her beloved wasn't human enough. That he only had a mind, but no heart or soul." Erik's voice was hardly more than a whisper, barely audible in the wind. "I don't think he expected to be proved wrong in quite so drastic a manner."

"Her spell killed her husband." Teddy shivered.

"Again, yes and no. Yes, far as we can tell, he perished. There was no mechanical fault with his body, though, he just couldn't be revived. When Dr. Strange examined everything after the fact he said the sacrifice must have been willingly made; without his willingness, the spell would have simply failed. I'm not sure that helped Wanda a lot under the circumstances."

"It worked, though." Had to have worked, because her sons were alive, so incredibly alive it made Teddy's heart ache sometimes when he saw the bright spark in Billy's eyes.

"It did. There were two infants, newborn boys, almost exactly identical, except one had a few strands of white hair and the other had black. I think that was the last straw for Wanda." At Teddy's questioning gaze, Erik gave him a rueful smile. "Her babies both had brown hair."

"So… she thought she failed? At the cost of her husband's soul?"

"She must have. Either she thought she hadn't succeeded at all, or that they would eventually be lost like her first twins had been, and this time she would be left with nothing. Wanda… couldn't face that possibility. She fled, and I let her go, because there was nothing I could do for her at the time."

"But you did," Teddy pointed out, because he had to. "You took care of the twins."

"I did. At first I told myself I would only care for them until she could return for them. However, as time passed and it was increasingly clear that day would not come, I decided to raise them myself. At least, if they did disappear, I could bear it easier than she could."

"They didn't, though." Way to state the obvious, Altman.

"No, and it's a good thing they didn't, as I soon came to realize I would not take it very well after all if I were to lose them." Erik shook his head. "It was clear early on they weren't just figments about to disappear, though. They were lively little children, and for better or worse, they showed signs of both of their parents." He paused. "I still don't know whether their powers were influenced by their father's soul."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Their father could fly and phase through objects." Erik shrugged. "Wanda can fly, like Billy, and Pietro can phase, like Tommy. However, Wanda and Pietro didn't master those parts of their powers until after years of practice, while the children learned them without much apparent effort."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I lost count of all the times I had to catch Billy when he was still learning to fly."

"Perhaps, but he never had trouble taking to air. Likewise, Tommy at that age kept falling through walls and doors if he leaned against them because he started vibrating when he was bored. However, there is no way to tell whether that is their father's influence or simply the effect of their powers being stronger than those of the previous generation."

"So, Wanda lost her children, the spell to bring them back cost her husband's life, the loss broke her and that's why she wasn't around to raise them." Teddy gave a careful nod. "So, what? Are you afraid Billy might end up doing the same?"

"No, I'm not. Clearly the situation is different here. I merely want you to be aware of the potential in his blood."

"Because of what he might do if something happened to our kid?" And just saying that made Teddy want to scream and rage, even though their child was still nothing but a bundle of hopes and dreams concealed within a shell.

"No. Because of what he might do if anything happened to you." Erik ignored his startled expression. "Billy is stronger than many give him credit for, for all that he may seem emotional and easily affected next to his brother, and were he anyone else I would not worry about such matters. However, his magic, like his mother's, has the power to alter reality itself, at a scale I'm not sure he fully realizes. That amount of power needs something to ground it, and for better or worse, he has chosen you as his grounding point."

"You think that if he lost me, he might snap like Wanda did." The thought terrified him on a level that had nothing to do with the idea of getting hurt or worse.

"Right now? Maybe, maybe not. If this happens, if you have a child and a life together? Almost certainly. Our family is not exactly famed for our emotional stability." Erik shrugged. "I have no protests to your starting a family with him. You make him happy, and I don't give a damn about anything else. All I want is that you are aware of just how important you are to him. It's more of a responsibility than most people take on when entering a relationship, and I want you to be aware of that before you get in too deep."

"I'm afraid I'm long past the point where I could have backed away." Not that he had ever wanted to, not since the first time he had seen Billy smile and decided to make that happen as often as possible. "Though I still can't promise you I'll do a much better job."

"Oh?" Erik's eyebrows shot up. "And why do you say that?"

"Because if we lost a child, I can't guarantee I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice myself to bring them back."

Erik looked at him for a moment, and there was something surprisingly soft in his eyes. "Well, try to avoid it," he finally said. "I'm too damn old to take a third stab at the whole parenting thing."

"Well, you didn't do too badly the last time." He wasn't going to say anything about the first time, not after they had just finished discussing Wanda's traumas.

"You have met Tommy, right? The only reason he's not a full-blown supervillain is that he's even weaker to his brother than Pietro ever was to Wanda, and Billy would be disappointed if he turned to a life of crime." Erik shook his head, then pushed himself away from the railing. "Come on. Let's go back inside before Billy convinces himself I pushed you to your death."

"I can fly, you know." And, no, he couldn't believe he was joking about that, either.

Erik merely smirked, and for once, Teddy didn't feel like the smirk held some silent threat for him. "Not while gift-wrapped with the railing, you couldn't."

*

"I never realized kids needed so much stuff." Teddy glanced around at the haphazard piles of things they had scattered about the room. They had done their best to organize everything by some kind of a logic, but he still felt somewhat lost.

"You're telling me." Billy sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked kind of adorable, but then he often did. "I'm really glad now we took Tony up on his offer of a nursery. If we'd tried to fit all this into our room, we probably would have gotten crushed to death."

"Wouldn't that be a tragedy. Our poor baby never having the chance to know us, losing his or her parents to a tragic diaper avalanche before their time. Truly, it would be a moving tale." Teddy poked at a pile of teeny tiny clothes. "Do we really need so many clothes? I mean, babies grow out of everything right away, right? So clearly we shouldn't need that many clothes in any one size."

"Well, according to better informed sources, that being the ones who raised us, little children are also exceptionally good at making a mess of themselves. So I suppose we'll want to have a lot of spares." Billy's lips twitched. "I still think it's mostly because they let Darcy go along on that particular shopping trip and she insisted on buying one of everything because the baby clothes are all so adorable."

Teddy laughed. "Yeah, sounds like a valid theory. She's already announced she will be channeling all her maternal energy into our kid so she won't make the mistake of producing any spawn for herself."

"Yeah, we'll see how well that goes." Billy picked out a bright-colored toy from a pile of several others. "I'm pretty sure it's not necessary to have toys yet. I mean, the kid's going to have plenty of entertainment in learning to hold its head up, right? And by the time it's old enough to play with toys, you know everyone's managed to get a bunch more."

"Oh, I know. Our kid is going to be spoiled rotten and we don't even get to be the ones to do the damage." He couldn't help but smile, though. It was good to see everyone cared enough to get all this for them. It wasn't just Tony footing the bill and letting them take care of the actual acquisitions, either; Teddy knew for a fact Steve had spent quite some time with his mother going over a list of everything that would be needed for the baby, appearing very serious and focused on the affair. Well, whenever he wasn't amazed and overwhelmed by all the things that hadn't even existed in his childhood but apparently were absolutely necessary for the mere survival of any modern baby according to the most enthusiastic sources. Teddy thanked his lucky stars his mother took a somewhat more sensible approach.

"So, I've been wondering about one thing." Billy was still turning the toy over in his hands. Well, maybe they would amuse them at least until the baby was old enough to appreciate them. "How are we going to feed the baby? It's just, grandfather was griping about how much trouble it was to make formula for twins every time we were hungry while trying to keep us from crying our little heads off."

"Ah. Right." There was that, wasn't there. He'd been so worried about everything else, he hadn't even had the time to worry about having this particular conversation. "Well, from what my mom told me, babies in our species drink milk, just like human infants."

Billy nodded, looking up. "I'm sensing a small 'but' here, though."

"Kind of?" Teddy rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to flush. "Ah. We don't exactly know if there's difference in the chemical make-up of the milk. I mean, there probably is, they've developed from different sources after all. And babies often have trouble digesting milk even from other Earth animals, so clearly there can be a lot of difference there. So... the thing is, we really don't know if it would be healthy or even safe to feed our baby on basic formula designed for humans."

"Meaning..."

"Meaning... I'm going to have to nurse the baby."

Billy gave him a strange glance. "You're a man, though. Aren't you? Because I'm pretty sure I recall finding some evidence to that end."

"Didn't stop me from laying the egg, did it?" Teddy sighed. "According to my mom, my body should adapt to it pretty easily. I won't even have to have breasts all the time, just when the baby's hungry. Which, okay, that's still pretty weird, but I suppose it's better than running around half female until the baby's old enough to get started on solids."

"That's..." Billy paused, and for a moment Teddy dreaded what would come next. "You know, that's pretty cool, actually."

"Oh?" Teddy blinked. That was not the reaction he had expected. "Cool?"

"Well, yeah. Don't think think it's cool? I mean, we already know your body can adapt to pretty extreme circumstances to keep you alive, and I'll be quite happy if I never see any more evidence of that by the way, but this is something else. This is adapting to run processes that aren't natural to your body or necessary for your own survival, for the sake of keeping your offspring alive. That's just all kinds of amazing." Billy gave him a small, rueful smile. "I'm still terrified that I'm going to drop the baby the first time I hold him or her."

"I'm sure you won't." Teddy returned Billy's smile with one of his own. "I mean, I've seen how protective you are of your brother, not that either of you would ever admit to that. You'd never let our baby come to any kind of harm if there's any way you can help it."

"I certainly hope I won't." Billy looked down at the toy in his hands. "It's still kind of surreal, you know? To think there's an actual baby in there, something that's going to grow into a little person. Someone we're going to be entirely responsible for."

"I know what you mean. I'm actually pretty terrified. I'm so sure I'm going to mess up the kid somehow, or it's going to hurt itself because I couldn't keep it safe, or that something else is going to go wrong and it's going to be my fault because I'm going to suck as a dad. But then, my mom said that's a perfectly normal reaction to becoming a parent, so maybe it's not that bad?"

Billy snorted. "When I mentioned it to my grandfather, he told me to get used to it because I'm not going to stop feeling like that for a while. I'm not even sure if he was referring to Tommy and me or our mother and Uncle Pietro."

"Well, that's reassuring, though, isn't it? Because he did just fine with you. So if he was worried about his abilities but managed it in the end, that must mean we're not doomed to failure, either."

"Yeah, well, but we were his second attempt, so he already had some experience." Billy sighed. "Honestly, I'm just glad I'm not in this alone."

"As am I." Teddy gave him a faint smile, one that Billy returned. For a moment they sat in a rather companionable silence, surrounded by all the material goods that were supposed to help them get started in their terrifying duties of playing caregiver. "Hey, Billy?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you given any thought to what your grandfather said?"

"You'll have to narrow it down a bit, Tee. There are quite a few things he's said to me, both over the years and within the last couple of weeks since I got back."

"Well. About, you know." Teddy bit his lip. "Marriage."

"Oh." Billy blinked. "Well, yes and no? I mean, I've thought about it, a bit, it's just..."

"I know. It's not exactly simple, is it?"

Somewhat to their surprise, Erik's opinion had actually been that they shouldn't get married. At least, not simply because of a child in the way. That was doomed to end in failure, he had announced. Not that he was opposed to it, necessarily, but only if they had motivations beyond the child.

"See, here's what I've been thinking." Billy looked down, picking another toy from the pile to fiddle with. "I told you I've been planning a future with you since, well, since we started dating, right? And I meant that, every word of it. And, yeah, marriage has been part of those plans. But that doesn't mean we have to get married now."

"I know. And we're still pretty young, too. But on the other hand, well, we are going to be raising this kid together, married or not. And if something happened that made us split up — like some kind of alien parasite infecting our brains or something, because I don't think anything less could manage that — well, I don't think it would be any less terrible just because we didn't have rings or whatever."

"I talked with Tony the other day." Billy still wouldn't look at him, staring down at the little rattle as though it were a particularly intricate puzzle. "He said he's got a couple of lawyers working on the legal side. Apparently it shouldn't be a problem to get our kid legal status, he's already got a SHIELD-employed doctor lined up who's agreed to sign a birth certificate when the baby hatches and everything, so you'll be on paper as the birth parent."

"But that leaves you." Teddy nodded slowly. "I mean, I know we can have your name on the papers too, that shouldn't be too much of a problem, definitely not with Tony's lawyers on our side. But if we were married, there wouldn't even be a question about it. We wouldn't have to worry about constantly confirming that you're a legal parent, too."

"Grandfather's right, though. We shouldn't get married just because it'd make things easier. I mean, imagine if we did that, and then our kid grows up and asks why we got married. What are we going to say? Oh, you see, we figured this way there'd be less paperwork if Daddy needed to pick you up from school?"

"That wouldn't be it, though." Teddy scooted closer, reaching his hand to close it over Billy's. "Those plans... I've been making them, too. And I do want to be married to you, Billy, now or in the future. And I was thinking, well... if we want to get married anyway, why shouldn't we do it now? Sure, we won't be able to get together a big production or anything, but honestly, it's not like we have that big of a social circle outside the team. We could invite the team and our families, dress up nice and order a cake, and then we'd be married with a kid on the way."

"You know, that might not be a bad idea." Billy looked up at him at last, a faint smile on his face. "We could have Tommy and Kate as best man and best woman, or something. And I bet Tony would let Dummy be ring bearer. Put a little bowtie on its arm and everything, so it's all nice and proper."

"That sounds kind of awesome, actually." Teddy grinned. "So, what do you say, Billy? Should we get married?"

Billy laughed. "I've got to say, that's one of the worst proposals I've ever heard." His grin softened into a small smile. "But, yes. Yes, we should."

Teddy tried to think of something to say in response, but came up blank. Clearly, his best course of action was to draw Billy in for a kiss. Billy certainly didn't seem to mind once he got over the first surprise, practically melting into Teddy's arms, the toy rolling off to the floor somewhere.

Oh, yes, he could definitely get on board with this particular plan.


	4. Marry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teddy and Billy get married. Not before telling people about their intentions, though, of course.
> 
> As it happens, Erik happens to have certain plans of his own.

"You know, you've left me in kind of a difficult position here." Tommy glanced between them. "I always kind of imagined that when you two inevitably announced you're getting married, I'd get to tease Altman about knocking up my little brother. Except now it's already happened, and it was the other way around. How am I supposed to make mildly inappropriate remarks when you ruin them beforehand?"

"So sorry to cause you such stress," Billy said with a wry tone. "Really, we'll be more considerate the next time we get married."

"See that you do. I'll forgive you this once just because you're my favorite brother, but honestly, if you expect me to dress up fancy just to watch you say some sappy stuff that you're going to be saying every day anyway, the least you could do is give me the opportunity to tease you." Tommy heaved a sigh. "Well, I guess I'll have to work with I have."

"Or you could stop being an ass and congratulate your brother." Kate nudged Tommy and then smiled at them. "Congratulations, guys. I'm so happy for you, and so's Tommy, once he gets his head out of his ass."

Billy laughed a bit. "Oh, I know how Tommy can get, believe me."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Kate chuckled. "I'd offer my condolences, but I fear that's too little, too late."

"You know, I'm kind of tempted to be offended, here." Tommy folded his arms over his chest. "What's this, let's be mean to the speedster day?"

"You know, it's cute how you think the rest of us have the energy to devote ourselves to tormenting you." Kate patted Tommy on the cheek, and Teddy couldn't help but grin, then put on his very best innocent expression.

"Oh, I don't know. Being mean to Tommy sounds like an excellent use of our time. It's not like we have anything to do at the moment. I mean, preparing for a baby, trying to put together some kind of a wedding, being superheroes… really, it's like we cleared our entire schedules just to tease you!"

"You know, your teasing would be much more effective if you didn't imply that being mean to me is such a terrible effort to you, there's no way you could accomplish it in addition to anything else." Tommy huffed, but Teddy could see he was fighting a smirk. "So, a shotgun wedding, huh? How big a production are we talking about here?"

"We're planning to keep it pretty basic." Billy glanced at Teddy, who nodded. "Just the team and our families, nothing too complicated. I mean, it's pretty much just a matter of confirming the obvious."

"Just look out or Erik will decide to invite all his mutant friends." Tommy sighed. "Really, you're setting a bad precedent, little brother. Soon someone might think it's unacceptable for me to continue living in sin when even you deviants are trying the knot."

"Don't worry. We've got far too much love for Kate to ever suggest such a thing." Billy chuckled. "Really, you should be grateful we're doing this fast and simple. We won't even ask you to dress extra fancy or anything, just show up in something decent."

"And how do we define 'decent' in this case?"

"Something that won't make grandfather kick you out. Because, you know, he's going to be in attendance."

"So authority approved. Got it." Tommy gave him a mock salute. "Do I get to give a best man's speech at least?"

"And who say anything about you being a best man?" At Tommy's thoroughly unimpressed look, Billy chuckled. "Uh, sure? I mean, we're pretty much just thinking a simple ceremony at the Tower and then a nice dinner with everyone, but nobody's going to stop you from speaking while everyone eats. Though I'm really not sure what you would talk about."

Tommy grinned. "Oh, you know, just some little stuff. Like when you were fifteen and swore you were going to find a way to kiss Cap some day. Or how the two of you argued about which Avengers wouldn't count as cheating."

"Tommy, sweetheart, I'm pretty sure Cap already knows." Kate patted his arm in a soothing manner. "Especially after those not at all suggestive comments Billy made about how he knows CPR if Steve should ever decide he feels like drowning again."

"I was going to say something about our team dynamics and how much of it is fueled by sheer sexual perversion, but you know, thinking about that I'm just boggling at the way we deal with our traumas. Because seriously, that conversation ended with Tony drawing up a waiting list for people willing to give Steve the kiss of life at the slightest excuse, and the guy himself was laughing. I'm pretty sure that's not recommended procedure for dealing with the biggest fucking trauma of your life."

"Well, to be fair, in this line of work the choices are pretty much either to learn to laugh through it or shut yourself inside forever and ever, because none of us are going to make it far without some horrific traumas of our own." Teddy resisted the urge to draw Billy into a tight hug at the mere thought, and took his hand instead, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Okay, that took a turn for the morbid fast." Tommy made a face. "So. You told anyone else yet?"

"You're the first." Billy smiled. "We're meeting grandfather for lunch tomorrow, and Teddy's mom is coming by later, so we'll let them both know in person. After that we'll tell the rest of the team."

"Now I'm not sure if I should be thrilled that you told us first or annoyed because I'm probably supposed to keep this to myself until the parental figures have been informed." Tommy gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. I'll suffer in silence. But you'd better tell me the second the old ones have been informed so I can get started at the shotgun wedding jokes."

"You know, that would work better if you hadn't been teasing us with those jokes ever since I got back." Billy tried to look exasperated, but his smile rather spoiled the effect. Teddy couldn't help but smile as well. If Tommy was teasing them, that meant he was happy for them underneath it all. This meant Teddy had the approval of one of the two people whose opinion mattered more to Billy than anyone else's in the world.

Now they'd just have to find out whether Erik's "don't do it for the baby" was just code for "don't ever marry this freak" or not.

No, he wasn't going to stop worrying just yet.

*

In Peter's defense, having a danger sense really wasn't that useful in dodging individual attacks in the middle of a rather furious battle.

Not that he wasn't doing pretty well dodging the huge mutated bird-what-its, if he said so himself. Heck, these guys weren't half as good as Vulture when it came to flying around, and that guy probably would have been better off in a home somewhere, considering how senile he acted sometimes. Really, he probably could have wrapped it up all by himself if not for the sudden reinforcements, and even then he was only in a pinch for all of a minute or so before the Avengers showed up.

It was a strange thing, superhero etiquette. They knew better than to invade each other's turf, such as there was any. Peter took care of Queens, Daredevil was in Hell's Kitchen, those were things everyone knew and respected. The same went for all the heroes, except the Fantastic Four who generally did their own thing and the Avengers who took it upon themselves to meddle in anything that pinged their radar. And really, they probably had every right to, given that they were the biggest and best funded group of heroes in the entire city. Peter was great at taking out purse snatchers, could even handle a bank robbery if nobody involved was literally explosive, but there were things that required more than one smart-mouthed spider guy. So, he wasn't complaining when the Avengers showed up. Captain America even told him good afternoon as Iron Man set him down on a roof to better coordinate the battle. That was fine, that was how things were supposed to go.

Getting hit from behind while dodging an attack from another villain was not how things were supposed to go.

It wasn't that bad, really. He would have been fine, really he would have, except getting stunned for a second made him lose his grip. By the time he recovered enough to try and shoot another web, he'd already come down plummeting to a rather unpleasant alley. He could see the battle going on up above, then blinked as a big, winged shadow descended.

Considering how pitifully slow Peter's reflexes were on this occasion, it was probably a good thing the shadow wasn't one of the villains and resolved itself into Hulkling instead. The green guy dropped down on the alley in front of him, crouching down.

"You all right?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "Cap asked me to make sure you were in one piece. Sorry for not catching you, I was kind of busy."

Peter couldn't really say he knew Hulkling. They hadn't had much interaction, though at least there was more than with some of the more elusive Avengers. Hawkeye, now there was a guy Peter had only ever met in passing, like that one time he'd had to save him from falling to his death when a giant turtle decided that the building the archer had made his nest in offended it. It was a pity, really, since going by Hawkeye's comments on that occasion, Peter would have appreciated his snark.

Derailed thoughts. Right. Hulkling. They'd worked together every now and then, when a situation got out of hand and the Avengers came to Peter's help or the other way around, and yes, he was just slightly proud that there had been more than one occasion of him showing up to save the Avengers' collective asses. The more organized superheroes had somewhat varied reactions to him, ranging from grudging thanks to curiosity, but Hulkling had never been anything but friendly. It wasn't false friendliness, either, not some PR smiles and fake cheer; he just gave off the air of someone who just happened to be a genuinely good guy who liked people. Which, in Peter's opinion, was somewhat scary in itself, especially when this attitude accompanied a huge green giant who could destroy masonry with his bare fists. Not that Peter was a wimp in the strength department, himself, but boy, had this guy earned his code name.

Here was the nice guy again, crouching down in front of him, frowning in concern as though they weren't both worse for the wear from a rather annoying battle just moments before. "Hey? You all right in there?"

"Yeah, yeah." Peter shook his head. Focus, Parker. "Sorry, just a bit stunned."

"Yeah, I bet." Hulkling glanced up as though to evaluate the distance Peter had fallen. "Ah. You need medical help? We've got a team at the ready, you know, I can call someone. Ah, don't move," he exclaimed as Peter made to sit up. "You probably broke something."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm fine." Peter sighed as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm pretty durable, you know. Probably not as sturdy as you are, I mean, I don't have natural armor or whatever, but one little fall isn't going to kill me."

Hulkling gave him a dubious look. Peter wasn't sure he could really blame the guy. "Didn't look that little to me." A frown crossed his face. "Is this about your identity? Don't worry, I'll make sure nobody touches the mask, but you really should get checked over —"

"Don't bother. I'd be surprised if SHIELD didn't know everything about me, including my shoe size." Peter sighed at the startled look on the green face. "Yes, I know about SHIELD. Kind of hard not to, after Fury himself decided to give me a lecture about the risks of being a vigilante. But, hey, for some reason they let me run free and wild, so whatever works for them, I guess."

"Right." Still the frown. "Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah, yeah." Peter made to get to his feet, and winced as pain shot up his leg. "Or not. Don't panic, though," he hurried to say as Hulkling made to say something. "It's just a sprained ankle or whatever. I heal pretty fast, I'll be fine before the bashing overhead is over." He paused. "Which you should get back to, I think."

"Oh, that? Nah, I think I'll rather stick around to make sure nobody tries to bother you before you're better. They don't need me right now." A small smile crossed Hulkling's face, and for some reason Peter's mind wanted to describe it as slightly dopey. Which was obviously a ridiculous thing to think about a genuine superhero, but there you had it. "Wiccan got there judging by the lights, and he's pretty pissed. He doesn't take well to unfair behavior, you know."

"Unfair behavior?" Peter blinked, and his confusion must have showed even through his mask, as Hulkling chuckled.

"You know, knocking you down from behind? Also, the making you fall bit. He's got bit of an issue with that. I guess it comes from all the times I had to catch him back when he was still just learning to fly. Not that he ever really hurt himself doing that, I wouldn't have let him, but he still takes it as a personal affront when someone gets knocked down from the air."

"Ah. Right." Well, that explained the dopey smile. "So you think he can take down the whole flock by himself?"

"Not quite, but he's certainly making a good effort trying. They'll probably get done in no time. His magic always works better when he's really motivated, and there's really no better motivation for schooling villains than being mad at them."

"That's good to hear." He honestly hadn't meant for it to sound that much like a question. "Remind me never to piss him off. I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life as a frog or something." That was how magic worked, right? He wouldn't know. He'd only ever seen Wiccan do shields and nondescript bolts, but then he figured those were the simple stuff.

"You know, I think you and Tommy would really get along. Or rip each other to shreds, I'm not entirely sure." Hulkling paused, looking thoughtful. "You know, this reminds me. Are you doing anything this coming Sunday?"

"Uh. I sense ulterior motives hidden in this question." Peter set his hands on his hips. "Are you asking me on a date or something? Because if you are, nope. Didn't I just say I don't want to piss Wiccan off?" It wasn't like anyone had ever announced it, but really, the two of them were rather obvious sometimes.

"What? Oh, no." Hulkling gave a startled laugh. "No, it's, kind of the opposite? No, damn, that sounds like I'm telling you to get lost or something. Ah." He paused, and the look of amusement on his face turned into one that Peter could only describe as bliss. "Actually, we're getting married."

"...I'm going to go ahead and assume that means you and Wiccan, and not the two of us."

"You'd be right about that." Hulkling looked about as bashful as was possible for a jolly green giant with bat wings and armored shoulders. "Just. We're having a small wedding, just the team and friends, at the Tower. And we thought, well, you're practically a honorary Avenger by now, so we really should invite you as well. I was getting worried we might not catch you before then, but fortunately this happened. Not to say that I'm glad these idiots decided to harass people, just, you know, at least it has the upside of letting me talk to you."

"Right." Okay, that sounded sensible. Somewhat. "I guess? I mean, I should be free then. Isn't this kind of a short notice all around, though?"

"Well, as I said, it's a small affair. We pretty much decided it was inevitable anyway, so we should just get it over with, not drag it on or anything."

"Don't sound too enthusiastic, now, you might hurt yourself."

This earned him another laugh. "Yeah, definitely like Tommy. No, I'm happy to be doing this. Ecstatic, really. What I mean is, well, we were always headed toward it, and now that we have a good excuse, it makes no sense to put it off any longer."

"Should I ask about this excuse? Or is this some kind of super-secret Avengers stuff a poor little solo hero isn't allowed to hear? Like, you're about to go undercover for three years and want to give him some token of your love before you're so cruelly separated?"

"Oh, God no. It's just... it's kind of complicated." Hulkling shrugged and smiled. "Look, just show up on Sunday, okay? I promise you'll get all the explanations you could ever wish for."

"Curse my endless curiosity, I probably actually will." Peter cocked his head. "So, what time should I show up? And is there a dress code or something? Because I'm not sure they make tux-appropriate masks."

"We're aiming for five, barring any sudden villain attacks. And it's nothing formal. Your costume's fine, assuming you can eat in it. There's going to be dinner and cake after the ceremony, and we're going to need all the help we can get in demolishing the colossus of a cake Tony insisted on ordering. And Steve isn't even scolding him for being excessive, because it's a wedding and he loves weddings, to precisely nobody's surprise. I think Tommy and Kate have a bet going on whether he's going to cry."

"I'll keep that in mind." Peter nodded. "You know, it's kind of weird hearing you talk about them with their first names. I mean, everyone knows Tony Stark is Iron Man, and every geek knows Steve Rogers is Captain America, but I don't think I've ever been introduced to the rest of your merry band."

"Which is why you need to show up to get to know us, obviously. I promise we cause a lot less destruction of property out of costume." Hulkling paused, taking on a thoughtful expression. "Well. Most of us do."

"Super-secret reasons for marriage and the offer of being introduced to all the Avengers. I'm starting to wonder if I hit my head harder than I thought."

"It's more weird than exciting, really, but we'd appreciate if you showed up anyway." Hulkling gave him a grin. "Oh, though I should probably warn you in advance. I think Cap's angling to recruit you."

"Uh. I'm flattered? I mean, I really am, I'm a great fan and everything, but I'm really more of a solo guy." As though his inner ten-year-old wasn't currently bouncing up and down and squealing at the mere thought of working with the actual Avengers. Along with his inner twenty-year-old. He was a well-rounded guy like that. "But I'll give it some thought, okay?"

"Please do. We work together often enough as it is, might as well make it official." Hulkling seemed about to say something else, then paused to listen to something, doubtless something coming over his comm link. "Right," he said then. "Seems like everything's wrapped up. You sure you don't need medical aid?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Peter rolled his foot around. "My ankle's pretty much okay by now, too. Thanks for the concern, though." That was one thing he wasn't too accustomed to. The flip side of working alone, not having anyone fussing over him.

"If you're sure." Another brilliant smile that really should have been aimed at a camera, it was too picture-perfect. "So, at five on Sunday, at the Tower. We'll keep the door to the helipad open. I promise you'll get to meet everyone, including our little excuse."

"Okay, see you then," Peter said, and it wasn't until Hulkling had taken off with a couple of beats of physics-defying wings that the true extent of his words sank in.

Meet their excuse? That almost sounded like... no, he was probably just imagining it.

Mostly because he was certain that if there had been an actual kid in the picture, Hulkling wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to show photographic proof right then and there.

*

"Okay. We've got to figure this out now, so we can't keep waffling about." Billy sighed. "Seriously, it shouldn't be this hard."

"Well, it is kind of a big decision." Teddy gave a small shrug. "I mean, it's not irreversible, but important anyway."

"We could just both do double-barred." Billy dropped down on the bed, making a big show of his exhaustion. "That way it's all fair, but we're still making a point."

"Yeah, no." Teddy sat down next to Billy with a little less drama. "I'm not sure what sounds worse, Altman-Lehnsherr or Lehnsherr-Altman, but I'm not going to try teaching our kid to spell either of those."

"Well, if that's our only criterion, then clearly I should take your name. A lot easier to spell."

Teddy hesitated. He'd been meaning to bring this up ever since they had shared the news with his mother, but hadn't known how to do it. "Actually, my mom said something about that."

"Oh?" Billy gave him a quizzical look. "And what did she say?"

"Apparently, she wants me to take your name." As Billy gave him a surprised look, Teddy sighed. "It's... it's got to do with the whole alien thing. Since, you know. She's not exactly from around here." He managed a faint smile. "I knew growing up we didn't have much in the way of family, but I never thought it was just because all our relatives are on a different planet or something."

"So, what? She thinks your name doesn't matter since it's not the real thing anyway?"

"Something like that? I mean, I don't even know what my name is supposed to be, but she did say I'd already been born when she took the Altman name for us. So, it's pretty much just a disguise."

"Uh." Billy bit his lip. "She does know my grandfather wasn't born a Lehnsherr, right? That it's a disguise, too?"

"I did tell her that." Teddy shook his head. "She said it's different. That even if it doesn't go much further back, there's still more family with that name. There's your mother and his brother, and Erik and Tommy, while on my side there's just my mom. So, she'd rather the baby have the name of the bigger family."

"Hm." Billy took on a thoughtful expression. "Okay, I'll allow that. On one condition."

"What, so now you're demanding conditions on letting me take your name?" Teddy lifted an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"If it's a girl, we're using your mother's name somewhere in her name."

Teddy blinked, and he wasn't entirely sure if that was due to surprise or in an attempt to suppress tears. "Billy, that's — that's just —"

"I know, I know. It's probably just a disguise, too. I mean, I doubt aliens use names like Sarah." Billy waved his hand. "But, that's her name now, right? And the baby should have something from your side of the family, too. And if we get a boy, we'll, I don't know, ask her what your birth name was and use that for a middle name instead. Or just Altman, goodness knows people have stupider middle names than that."

"That... that sounds wonderful." Teddy smiled. "But don't you think it's unfair to only plan to use names from my side of the family?"

"Well, if you take my name, the baby's going to be a Lehnsherr, right? So that side's already handled." Billy gave him a grin. "Besides, we've got to keep something in stock for the next one, right?"

"Oh, God." Teddy groaned. "I'm not sure I'm prepared for the first one to arrive yet, don't start talking about more." He dropped down next to Billy, paused for a moment, and then added, "But, yes. We need something for the next one."

"Thought so." Billy rolled over until he was leaning over Teddy's chest, resting his head on his folded arms. "Though we still need first names."

"There's that, yeah." Teddy made a face. "I suppose we can't get away with just calling him or her Baby forever and ever?"

"Pretty sure that'd amount to some sort of child abuse." Billy grinned. "I say we name the baby after some sort of a hero. Like, say, Steven. And then when Steve starts to get embarrassed, we can just claim I decided to go all magic fanboy and name the kid after Doctor Strange."

"I think Steven would be a bit too obvious. Also confusing since we'd inevitably end up with two Steves in the Tower." Teddy smiled and leaned up to steal a quick kiss. "But I do like the hero idea. Maybe James? Since, you know, there's War Machine and then there was Bucky, but nobody calls either of them James so there wouldn't be confusion."

"James could be nice." Billy hummed thoughtfully. "Or we could get historical in another direction and use grandfather's original name."

Teddy made a face. "Yeah, no. Maybe as a middle name at some point, but I'm not a big fan of Max as a first name. The kid would get teased to hell and back."

"Point, I guess. Let's say James, provisionally, in case we get any better ideas?" As Teddy gave a nod, Billy hummed in thought. "So. Girl first names? There aren't as many female heroes around, so we don't have as much to choose from."

"Actually, for that, I have an idea." He hadn't thought of it before, but now, it made perfect sense. "Somewhat similar to James, actually."

"Oh?" Billy smiled at him. "Care to share it with me, or is it going to be a surprise?"

"Well, you know how I've been reading all those books about Cap's history lately?"

*

Right now, Teddy wasn't worried about anything.

He was almost startled to realize this all of a sudden. He'd spent so much time lately sorting through his various uncertainties and fears that it was something of a surprise not to feel any of them right now. Though then, he supposed if any day was appropriate for lack of worries, it would be his wedding day.

Everything had gone just as planned. They'd had their little ceremony, had said their vows and I dos. Erik had managed to track down both a priest and a rabbi who had experience with mutants and didn't have a problem with performing a same-sex ceremony, so there hadn't been any unnecessary worries over that. The dinner afterwards had been delicious, and now everyone was enjoying the enormous cake. It was almost like a team night, except Teddy felt happy enough to burst, and found his sentiments echoed on Billy's face every time he glanced at his new husband.

His husband. That was such a lovely thought.

"I think Spider-Man is probably regretting agreeing to come," Billy murmured, leaning closer to him and entwining his hand with Teddy's. "He almost choked on his cake when Tommy told him about the egg, and now Tony's interrogating him about why exactly Steve would want him on the team anyway, he should be perfectly happy with all the snarky smartasses he has already."

"Think we should go save him?"

"Eh. If he can't survive a Tony fit he wouldn't make it long on the team anyway." Billy leaned even closer, and Teddy obediently bent his head down for a quick kiss. He might have also spent a moment smiling stupidly at Billy as they parted. He was allowed, they were now officially newlyweds. Clearly sappy smiles were a required part of the whole deal, and Billy agreed besides.

"We kind of need more people on the team, though," Teddy pointed out after a second kiss, because really, like he could resist that smile. "I mean, our current lineup is pretty good, but we don't exactly have much in the way of back-ups."

"And here I was thinking we were the back-ups." Billy lifted an eyebrow, though he was grinning still. "Hello, Mr. Teen Hulk?"

"That was once, in one article, and nobody asked me." Teddy sighed. "And I wouldn't say a word about early code names if I were you." Okay, so obviously teasing was part of their particular brand of sappiness. He could live with that.

"Point taken. But still, we're not all so uniquely irreplaceable as all that. The team did well enough before us kids joined up, and our esteemed leaders are pretty good at adapting to the situation at hand. Not to say Spider-Man isn't awesome, because awesome, but we've managed to make do this far without him on the official line-up."

"You forget a rather important thing." Now, Teddy found himself grinning again. "Soon enough we'll need to have someone always back at the Tower to babysit."

"Mmm, I suppose that's true." Billy's grin again reflected his own. "I think we'll somehow make it through such incredible hardship, though."

"Yeah, I think we'll survive somehow." Teddy tried to resist for all of two seconds before pulling Billy closer for another kiss. For a moment they remained close, Billy's head falling to rest on Teddy's shoulder. This, Teddy decided, was all he could possibly need. This right here, with Billy in his arms and their baby peacefully growing within its shell, was all he wanted, and nothing could mess with that.

"Tee?"

"Mmm-hmm?" No, he couldn't be bothered to speak right now. He'd much rather focus on nuzzling Billy's hair, thanks.

"Would you happen to have any idea why I heard grandfather and Steve discussing something that sounded an awful lot like 'moving in?'"

…Yeah, he had thought it seemed too simple.


	5. Prepare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a lot to do before the hatchling joins the family. Erik takes it upon himself to help.
> 
> Also, there is talk about breasts.

There was a clicking sound coming from the main living room.

There were a lot of things that could be said about curiosity and the creatures it could kill. However, Clint had long since learned that there was a fine balance to dealing with the issue. If he had been ordered to sit in his nest, well, a strange sound from somewhere was someone else's problem. Unless it got too close, investigating it would likely mean missing a good shot. However, things such as strange sounds in his own living space, while there was no mission going on, were a sign that something interesting was going on and he should absolutely go and investigate, right away. There might be a villain or something hiding between the couch cushions, after all. It would have been simply unforgivable for him to just shrug and ignore the sound. They couldn't risk losing such a brilliant couch to some evil scheme.

Okay, so maybe he just liked the couch. He was allowed, wasn't he? There was rarely such a perfect meeting of soft cushions and solid structural integrity that allowed for both lazy lounging and perching on the back. He was perhaps a man of simple tastes, but that didn't mean it was easy to find something that appealed to him in two ways at once.

As soon as he glanced in through the open doorway it was clear someone was making the noise. White hair peeked over the back of the couch, and, okay, that was Tommy. Tommy often did a lot of weird stuff, but far as Clint knew none of them had involved strange metallic clicks so far.

Well, all he needed to do was ask the brat, wasn't it?

Clint walked closer as silently as possible. He paused just behind the couch, then leapt over the back on the unoccupied half. "So, what the hell are you doing, Tommy?" It wasn't until then that he took a good look at the person. Sharp eyes met his gaze with one white eyebrow raised in question. "...You are not Tommy."

"Evidently not." The man turned his gaze back to what he had been doing, and, what, was he knitting? That was knitting, wasn't it, the thing you did with yarn and sharp metal implements, really, it was a wonder Natasha hadn't taken it up yet. It should have been right up her alley.

"You're Erik, right? Billy and Tommy's parental figure Erik?"

"I suppose that is correct enough." The man adjusted a length of yarn. Clint belatedly realized that he was not, in fact, holding onto the needles at all, yet they continued clicking against each other, loop after loop after loop.

Well, hell. He'd seen weirder things.

"So, uh. Not to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here?"

"Is it not obvious?" Erik lifted an eyebrow again, though this time his lips twitched into a small smirk. "I'm knitting, of course. It would be quite unthinkable if I didn't have anything to offer the baby once he or she arrives."

"Right." It did look like it was something small getting made. A little bootie? That was kind of nauseatingly twee, but then, baby things often were. It was a nice shade of light purple, though. Clint definitely approved. "And any particular reason you're doing it here?"

"The couch is comfortable." And seriously, was he being difficult on purpose or what?

"No, I mean. Here. In the Tower? Because, uh, last I checked, didn't you have your own place or whatever? Not that the couch isn't great, seriously, you've got great taste there, but I wouldn't think it's quite good enough to warrant the trip here."

"Ah, yes, about that." He produced another small bootie from somewhere, comparing it with the one currently on the needles, then let the needles continue their work. This time they were neatly finishing the work until it dropped off the needles. Erik floated in a pair of small scissors, cutting off the tail of yarn and pulling it through the last stitch. "I may have moved in."

"To the Tower?" Okay, Clint, stupid question. "Were you going to inform anyone?"

"But certainly. What do you take me for, some kind of a barbarian?" Erik snorted, bending down to a basket he had by his feet. It was filled with balls of very soft-looking yarn in various light colors. "I discussed the matter beforehand with your Captain and Stark. They came to the conclusion that I would be welcome to move in so I will be able to assist Billy and Teddy with child care once the baby hatches."

"Okay, that I can believe. Tony would agree to anything as long as it lessens his chances of ever having to face a dirty diaper on his own." Clint paused. "So, what? You're just going to sit around and knit until the baby's here?"

"Certainly not. I have also agreed to be added to the team roster if there should be a need, as your Captain very kindly requested me." He weighed two balls in slightly different shades of green critically in his hands.

"And you think you'll be useful?" Okay, wait, that was rude. And probably not something he should be saying to someone who could use something sharp and pointy without even using his hands.

"I would presume that depends on the situation. I am not quite as physically fit as some of you young ones, but I believe I can be of use in some situations." He gave Clint a smile that had far too many teeth in it. "To be precise, I may have promised that the next time this Doctor Doom character sends in an army, I will handle it singlehandedly. I'm not sure Stark believed I was serious."

"Okay. That's both kind of impressive and very terrifying, especially since you seem to be perfectly serious." Clint shuddered. "You got something personal against Doom?"

"He tried to manipulate my daughter into marrying him while she was in a very vulnerable state. That, and his army of robots offends me on a personal level. There is so much one could do with metal, and yet he chooses to utilize it for something so crude and ugly." Erik glanced at him, now. "What do you think, which shade would be better?"

"For the baby?" Clint thought for a second, then pointed at one of the balls. "That's closer to Hulkling's color, isn't it?"

"Ah, yes, I do believe you are right." Erik placed the other ball in the basket, then started doing something that seemed practically magical with the yarn and the needles. As Clint watched, new stitches materialized on the needles, with Erik doing nothing but holding the yarn in some complicated manner.

"Uh. Is that very difficult?" As Erik glanced at him, Clint almost regretted asking, but then, he'd never been one to back down. "The knitting business, that is."

"Not really, once you get the hang of it. I find it rather relaxing." Erik paused. "Would you like to give it a try? I can't necessarily promise to be a good teacher, but I will not stab you with a needle right away."

Clint couldn't help but grin, now. "Do I get to use the purple yarn?"

*

It was always easy to tell whether Tony was in his workshop or not. Even at a distance, you could usually detect the faint beat of his music, drifting along the corridor even when the door was shut tightly. Steve sometimes expressed his concern about this particular habit, worrying as he did that Tony would ruin his hearing. Tony naturally ignored any such complaints, claiming that JARVIS was monitoring the music output to keep it below dangerous levels. Which might have been somewhat more reassuring if they hadn't all known that Tony had a bad habit of muting JARVIS when he didn't feel like listening to it.

It was this faint beat that led Teddy down the corridor now. He didn't often come to this part of the Tower, rarely having anything to do there. He was friendly enough with Tony, but there was a big difference with getting along with him in general and disturbing him when he was working on something. The latter was usually reserved to the couple of people who might actually have any chance of being listened to.

He'd been sent on an errand, however, and hopefully one that wouldn't blow up in his face. Tony had locked himself in his workshop since morning, yes, but from what they could tell he wasn't too deep in the bowels of yet another project to be dragged up again. At least that was what Steve had told Teddy before sending him on his way, and he supposed he had to trust the man's word on that.

It wasn't like he had much of a choice, anyway.

He paused at the door, looking through the transparent window on it. Tony was there, yes, his back turned to the door. However, he seemed to be talking to someone, hands waving in the air as he explained something to his unseen companion. Was he talking to JARVIS, maybe? Teddy had heard him doing that once or twice, using his AI as a sounding board in the absence of anyone else to bounce ideas off of. Not that he listened to JARVIS much, but then, it could be said he rarely paid much attention to the rest of the team, either.

Teddy stepped closer to open the door, and halted. From this angle he could see more of the workshop, enough to see that Tony was not, in fact, alone.

Tony was arguing with Erik.

That was... well. He supposed troubling wasn't too strong a word, not under the circumstances. Both men had a temper, and for all that Erik had a longer fuse, his anger was all the more frightening. Teddy had only ever seen him truly furious once or twice, but he'd rather not repeat the experience any time soon.

Even without hearing anything, the music covering up what little might have otherwise made it through the door, he knew there was something going on. The tension was clear enough in Erik's expression, in the sharp motions of Tony's hands through the air. Someone had to break this up before it developed into something truly troubling.

And, as luck would have it, Teddy was the only one around to do it.

Sighing, he punched in his access code and opened the door. The music grew louder as he walked in, no more muffled by the door. He still couldn't tell exactly what Tony and Erik were saying, but could now hear the rather loud voices being employed. Feeling just the slightest bit apprehensive, he weaved through the work stations and half-finished projects scattered about the workshop.

"You're delusional if you think that's going to work!" Tony proclaimed just as Teddy got near enough to make out the actual words. "Believe me, I've been working these materials for —"

"Oh, please. You don't know the first thing about what you're doing," Erik cut him off, hands at his hips. Last time Teddy had seen him like that he'd been scolding Tommy about the utter idiocy of trying to climb out of a second-floor window. "You may be an engineer, Stark, but I know how metals work. If I say I can work it, you'd better take my word for it."

"I bet you can't do the first thing. I'm not going to waste my time trying to work an alloy that won't set. And even if it did, it'd just be brittle, and that's precisely what we don't want."

"Careful, Stark, or I'll take you up on that bet." Erik was the first to notice Teddy, with Tony facing partly away from him, sharp eyes meeting his. "Teddy. You'll be our witness. Stark claims I can't make a strong enough alloy from the metals I suggested, I say otherwise. So, Stark, what are you going to wager?"

"What's the point? It's not like you can pay me if we bet money. Or if you can, it's so small a sum it won't make any difference."

"Backing away now, are you? Should have known you would."

"Oi. I'm not backing away from anything." Tony grinned, though really it was just a way of showing his teeth. "I'll get the materials and tools, you do the work. If you can make something sturdy, I'll buy you a car. Any car you like, your pick."

"And presuming the end result isn't strong enough?" Erik lifted an eyebrow. "You know, since you seem so very convinced that it will end up in my failure."

"You're going to stand up in front of the entire team and announce that you bow down in front of my superior metal working knowledge." Tony smirked. "See, I'll let you off easy."

"Because that's going to happen." Erik extended a hand, shaking Tony's as he grasped it. "Teddy will stand witness to this."

"Uh. What exactly is going on here?" Teddy was feeling somewhat at a loss. "I mean... were you fighting about something? Should I be worried that there's going to be blood?"

"Stark is merely being annoying." Erik rolled his eyes. "I requested his help in a little project of mine, and he tried to argue I could not possibly do it."

"Oh? What kind of a project?" He knew Erik sometimes amused himself with some smithwork, but rarely anything big enough that it should have required any help from Tony Stark.

"A crib." As Teddy blinked, Erik sighed. "Yes, for your baby, because there aren't exactly any others coming up. I thought that, well, if the child takes after you, an ordinary crib might not be strong enough, and the baby might hurt itself if it broke it. So, clearly, the answer is to build a crib strong enough withstand that kind of force."

"So he wanted me to produce some of the samples I've come up with trying to figure out something that'll withstand the green guy." Tony ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Except there's the little fact that most of those alloys are pretty much unworkable, and trying to mold them directly into the shape of a crib is a lost cause. Too many fiddly parts to get everything to mix properly. If I took a hammer to it, it'd fall apart right away." He sniffed. "I may be an engineer, but I've gotten my hands dirty once or twice. Just because something sounds like a good idea in theory does not mean it'll always work out in practice."

"We shall see about that." Erik looked at Teddy again. "Did you come here for a reason? Not to sound rude, but I hardly think this would be a place where you spend your time simply for fun."

"Ah, right." He'd almost forgotten about that. "Cap told me to come get you, Tony. You haven't been seen since breakfast, and dinner's in half an hour, and JARVIS said you'd told him not to cut the music so he couldn't get you to listen."

"Huh. Is it that late?" Tony frowned. "I'm pretty sure I ate a sandwich just a little while ago, though. So really, Steve's got no reason to fret about me."

"No offense, but Kate brought you that sandwich about six hours ago. So, you know. Not much of a meal for the entire day."

Tony sighed. "I presume I'm not allowed to decline this particular invitation?"

Teddy managed a small smile. "Well, Cap did say that if you won't come of your own volition, I'm allowed to simply carry you off. I can do that, you know, you're not that heavy in the end."

Tony stared at him for a second, then snorted. "Damn, Capsicle's starting to play dirty. Fine, I'll be up in half an hour, then."

"Yeah, about that. I was told to make sure you get out of the workshop, or you'd forget the moment I leave."

"Right." Tony frowned, glancing at his projects. "Well, I suppose there isn't anything here that won't keep. Come on, Erik, I'm going to assume that counts for you, too. I know you haven't lived here long, so take it from me, you really don't want to make Steve annoyed."

"I know better than to do so." Erik nodded at them both, then turned and left. Teddy glanced after him, then turned towards Tony.

"Uh. You are aware, aren't you, that his mutant power is basically metal manipulation?"

For a moment, Tony stared at him. Then he let out a rather colorful string of curses in very short succession.

Well. Teddy supposed it would do Tony good to learn he wasn't always the most superior authority on everything.

*

"So, how's junior coming along?"

Teddy looked up from his food, smiling at Clint. "Great. Bruce actually did an ultrasound just earlier today, and it seems the hatchling's growing well. I mean, not that we have much to compare it to, since, well, half-human hybrid, but at least it's getting bigger at a steady rate."

"That's good to hear." Steve gave one of his best smiles, the kind that made you think everything was absolutely perfect no matter what was going on. He often wore those smiles during team dinners, but a tiny part of Teddy still insisted on believing that this particular smile was inspired solely by the good news about the hatchling. "It won't be long now until you get to hold your baby for real."

"Don't forget dealing with smelly diapers and spit-ups." Tony took on an innocent expression as Steve threw him a disapproving glance. "What? They want a kid and they're getting a kid, hooray, you won't hear me saying that's a bad thing. However, I think it's important to keep in mind the less pleasant aspects of child-rearing, too."

"We are aware of those, thanks." Billy rolled his eyes, though he seemed amused more than anything. "Never mind what everyone else has told us, you've been quite clear on the parts that you will not be taking part in."

"See, that's the benefit of being an uncle-type figure in someone's life. I get to buy cool toys that make noise and bribe the kid with candy, then hand it right back to you for clean-up and bedtime."

"Please, Stark." Erik snorted. "If you actually think you could get away with that kind of behavior and still get to enjoy the so-called fun parts, you'll be quite disappointed."

"Never mind that it's probably going to be a while before the kid can eat candy." Trust Clint to find the important point.

"Actually, that reminds me. There's something I've been meaning to say." Teddy glanced at Billy, a bit hesitant, and got an encouraging nod in response. Better get the discussion out of the way now that most of the team was gathered for once. "I mean. About feeding the baby."

"Oh?" Kate tried to hide a grin by taking a sip of her drink, but it was too obvious. "Please tell me that means what I think it does."

"Probably." No, Teddy, no blushing now. "I, ah. I'll probably have to nurse the hatchling for a while. You know. Breastfeeding." Tony opened his mouth to say something, and Teddy sighed. "Yes, with an emphasis on the 'breast' part." Tony snapped his mouth shut again. Sometimes he was awfully predictable. "And, ah… I was wondering if anyone was going to mind. I mean, if I do that around here."

"They can't," Darcy said before anyone else could get a word in. "I mean, nobody has any problem with you being shirtless as you are, right? So if that suddenly becomes not okay just because you've got boobs, it's a sexist double standard. And that's not heroic at all."

"The lady's got a point," Clint agreed. "I mean, nobody ever complains about the topless men in the house. It's not like female chests are somehow more obscene just because they've got bigger fat deposits underneath."

"It's not the same thing, though." Steve, of course, frowning. "Ladies shouldn't —"

"Steve, I know you mean well, but really, us ladies can decide what we should or shouldn't do all on our own," Natasha cut him off, not even looking up from her steak. "It's not like anyone's advocating mandatory topless nights for all and sundry. The point was simply made that if nobody objects to Teddy being shirtless in his usual form, it should still be fine for him to do the same even if he is nursing. And that, by logical extension, this should also apply to those of us who have breasts as a permanent design feature rather than an occasional add-on."

"If I may weigh in here? You know, as the owner of this fine establishment and all. Well. The owner of most of it, in any case." Tony waited for at least most eyes to be on him before he continued. "To the surprise of precisely no one, I actually don't have a problem with shirtless people, male or female. As long as pants stay on in public spaces, I don't give much of a crap what anyone wears in general, and frankly there isn't anything magical about the female nipple that somehow should make it more inappropriate than a male one. Believe me, I've seen enough of both to know. We get enough accusations of sexism as it is, not having more women on the team and everything; I'm quite fine with not adding more fuel to the fire by having different dress codes for men and women."

"Much though I'm in favor of things being equal and all," Kate snorted aloud at Tommy's comment, "I can kind of see a downside to this. You know, the part where we'd have to walk around staring at the ceiling or get accused of being perverts? I know better than to claim anyone going around in too skimpy clothes is asking for the wrong kind of attention, but somehow I don't think you've thought this one through."

Billy of all people lifted his eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure you guys would get uncomfortable if those of us inclined to do so started downright ogling you whenever someone's without a shirt. Well, perhaps not all of you, but you get the point."

"There's this fine line between an appreciative glance and drooling, yes. However, I'd hope we're all adult enough here to know the difference." Tony gave a very disingenuous sniff. "And if not, we can always have adult and dignified family meetings about what is and isn't appropriate."

"Don't tempt me, Tony. Family meetings sound like an excellent idea to me." Steve gave a small grin before sighing. "I see the point everyone is making, I think. Yes, it would be unfair to set different standards of dress for men and women, and I don't think we can abide with that. However," he added before Tony could make any of the remarks his expression suggested were forthcoming, "anyone who does decide to go topless in the public areas, male or female, should be prepared for the fact that this means others will see them topless. And in turn, we expect enough self-control of everyone that this will not lead to inappropriate attention." He paused, looking very serious despite the slight dusting of a flush on his cheeks. "Are we agreed on this?"

There was a general murmur of agreement, one or two suggestive leers apparently simply for the sake of making a point, and then everyone returned to their meals as though nothing had happened at all.

"Uh." Teddy was feeling a bit at sea at the moment. "What just happened?"

"I believe," Erik said with a rather prim air, his cutlery currently busy cutting up his stake without any apparent effort on his part, "the general conclusion was that, yes, it will be fine for you to nurse the hatchling wherever you might need to."

"I think there was a bit more to it than that." Teddy paused. "But, okay, I'll take that." He sighed. "Some day, someone in this place will react to something the way I expect them to. Not that I claim to know when that day comes, but it's got to get here eventually."

Tommy snorted. "If you wanted predictability, you shouldn't have joined a team of people who think heading into the line of fire is a good idea." He paused. "Or, you know, hooked up with a chaos witch. Baby bro may be a lot of things, but predictability doesn't really factor in. It's, you know, kind of his thing."

"Furthermore, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the irony of this complaint coming from the guy who, against all outward appearances, decided to be an oviparous alien." Tony pointed a fork in his direction in a manner that might have been intended as a mock threat. "You have no right to talk about people not living up to your expectations. Or down to them, since you seem to have gotten it into your head we're going to get either angry or disgusted at everything."

"Ah." Teddy could feel a flush creeping up his face. "That's not what I meant at all! It's just, well, I am weirded out by most of this, and when everyone else seems to find it all normal I start to wonder if there's something wrong with me for finding it strange."

"Oh, don't worry, this whole egg business is pretty weird." Clint used his best comforting tone, which wasn't very. "But both you and Billy seem to be happy about it, so clearly it's a good weird. So, we decide to go against our usual MO and be polite about it. Besides, in this merry band, you're one of the more normal members, so, you know. Glass houses."

"Uh. Right." Teddy digested that for a moment. "That makes sense, I guess?"

"Besides, if we did make fun of you I'm pretty sure Billy would soon have a pretty impressive toad collection." Tommy returned Teddy's gaze with a look of pure innocence. "What? I'm merely registering my delight that my darling little brother has found something so very precious that he wants to protect and defend it."

"And I'm now registering my irritation that you are teasing my very precious thing." Billy's tone was light, but Teddy had heard enough fights between the twins to know they were treading on dangerous ground here.

"Backing off, backing off." Tommy grinned, and it was a touch softer than his usual smug smirks. "Just, you know. Weird isn't necessarily bad."

That, Teddy decided, was the most important part of the entire discussion.

That and the way everyone seemed to be talking about magical nipples for the next couple of days, but that was neither here nor there.


	6. Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last, the latest addition to the Lehnsherr family is ready to join them. Of course, that can't happen entirely without complications.
> 
> Now that the hatchling is here, though, things will be easier... right?

There was something strangely satisfying in the feeling of his fist connecting with a criminal skull.

It was probably bad of him to think this, but Teddy couldn't really help it right now. There were certain things that got his blood boiling, and terrorists simply for the sake of terrorizing people were high on that list. Sure, they claimed to have this hugely important message to get out to the world, but really, who was going to listen to them when what they actually planned to do was set off a bomb in the middle of Manhattan?

Perhaps he just took it a bit personally that their all-important message more or less translated to "gays are icky". It was a personality flaw, he could admit that much. He always overreacted when people innocently suggested that he and his boyfriend were dirty and quite possibly evil for daring to fall for someone with a penis. Clearly he was being utterly unreasonable in his reactions, really, he should have been ashamed for taking it to heart.

Or perhaps he had the right to be insulted that someone thought his relationship was more morally reprehensible than the plan to blow up innocent bystanders to make a point. These things had all kind of subtleties sometimes.

"Where do these people keep coming from?" Steve grunted as he bashed another bigoted terrorist in the face with his shield. "I've probably already punched more than our initial estimate was."

"It seems they keep getting reinforcements. I'd say I'm surprised they could find this many bigoted psychos, but hey, this is New York." Iron Man flew up high, probably to get a better view of the area. It wasn't like he could do much here; even when fighting domestic terrorism, it was bad form to actually kill the bad guys if they could help it, and the armor wasn't exactly equipped with many non-lethal options.

"Maybe they breed them in the sewers." Billy stunned another terrorist with a well-aimed lightning bolt, just barely strong enough to paralyze the guy without frying him to a crisp. "I mean, there's plenty of room there for the alligators, why not a couple of homebrew homophobes?"

"You really think the teenage turtles would share their living space with someone this smelly?" Teddy was almost starting to have fun, rushing between acceptable targets and dealing all the punches he could manage. "Because if you think so, I disagree. They've clearly got better taste than this." Really, he wasn't letting his anger get the better of him. If he had, there would have been much less bruising and much more actual cracked skulls.

"Boys, focus." Erik was flying above the rest of them, focusing on disarming the criminals and deflecting any bullets or other weapons they might have tried to direct at the rest of the team. "I know it seems quiet with Tommy and Kate away, but there's really no need to try and fill in the silence."

"Man, Tommy's going to hate missing this. He loves it when there's a lot of stupid faces to hit." Teddy considered this for a moment longer. "Okay, so he loves fighting robots more, because then he can just blow them up, but that's because he's our resident sociopath."

"I still don't understand why Pepper thought they'd be the best choice for a PR gig. I mean, don't take me wrong, I'm ecstatic she didn't push me into the center stage again, but still. Personally I wouldn't have risked putting Tommy in front of TV cameras, not for love or money."

"Well, Kate is pretty good at keeping him under control. And you've got to admit, Tommy can be pretty telegenic when he's not being an ass." Billy picked out a bad guy from the crowd and threw him at two others, never touching any of them. Teddy approved of this. He already felt like he would have to wash himself for an hour to get the filth off himself.

"Perhaps so, but it still seems like a risky move to me."

"Since Pepper made the call, though, if it goes badly, she can't blame you, right?"

"You'd be surprised at what all Pepper manages to blame on me. If nothing else, it's going to be my fault for —" Teddy assumed the end of the sentence was going to have something to do with setting a bad example. However, it never got completed, so he could only guess.

"Tony?" Steve frowned, lifting his shield to deflect a hit from one of the terrorists. "Something wrong?"

"Sorry, JARVIS just called." Tony's voice was calm on the surface, but even over the comm link Teddy could tell there was some tension in there. "Apparently, there's a crack on the egg."

"What?" Teddy froze for a moment, then forced himself to calm down. Stop worrying, Teddy. A crack at this point is a good thing, remember. "You mean... it's hatching?"

"Sure sounds like it. So, I suggest we wrap this up pretty soon."

"Oh, that does it." Billy's voice gained an icy tone that was somehow even more terrifying than when he was angry. "It's bad enough these idiots keep telling me how I'm some kind of a monster for not wanting a girlfriend, but now they're going to make me miss the hatching of my first kid?"

Teddy was about to say something, but fell silent, staring as the blue glow around Billy intensified. There was a second, another, and then the light flashed all around them, blinding him for a moment.

Not that it mattered whether he saw anything, really, because the next thing he knew, he felt Billy's hand grasping his, then the familiar lurch of teleportation at the pit of his stomach.

*

Debrief could wait.

Steve knew this wasn't the first time this sentiment had been shared among the team, even those of them who normally didn't care much about such things. However, it was much less frequent for him to announce this, leaving no room for argument. It was bad enough that they'd had to waste time rounding up what villains remained after Billy's little show of power.

It had been rather the awesome display, in the traditional meaning of the word — something that inspired awe and fear. He had known that the potential of Billy's powers was tied to his motivation and further his emotions, and had been on some level aware that this meant they had yet to see him use his full potential. Even so, the difference between his usual spells and what he had accomplished today was like night and day.

At first it had seemed like Billy had simply knocked out all the villains in sight, which in itself was impressive enough. However, once the rest of the team had recovered and started to take stock of the situation, they had realized the spell had reached a group of reinforcements that had been making their way toward the battle. There was no way Billy could have been even aware of their existence, not yet, and yet they had all fallen to the spell as well. No civilians had been harmed, either, aside from one woman who had sprained her ankle jumping out of the way as the van driven by the reinforcements had careened to the side.

"That was kind of scary, in a good way." Tony had his arms folded over his chest, which frankly looked somewhat ridiculous as he hovered a couple of feet above ground in his suit, but Steve wasn't going to be the one to tell him. "Definitely makes me glad he's on our side."

"You and me both." Steve glanced around. His team was gathering in one spot, Clint arriving as the last one, setting the last few recovered arrows into his quiver. "Are we all ready to go?"

"Looks like SHIELD has everything well in hand." Bruce tried to look as casual as he could manage in the slightly too big shirt SHIELD had provided him as they arrived to cart off the bad guys. The other guy had been knocked down by the spell, and in the confusion afterwards Bruce had managed to resurface. He had taken even longer than the rest to realize just what had happened. "Ah. We do know that Billy and Teddy went to the Tower, right? They didn't just disappear into the ether or something?"

"JARVIS confirms they arrived a few seconds after our little magic bomb went off." Tony looked around. "So, we flying home or what? Because I could swear Cap said debrief could wait."

"I certainly plan to do so." Erik glanced around, his eyes falling on a piece of decorative fence that had been twisted out of shape at some point during the battle. With a wave of his hand it detached from the ground with apparently very little effort, straightening itself out again into a more or less flat surface as Erik stepped onto it. "If anyone wishes to accompany me, I suggest they do so now."

"Yeah, I've got my own ride." Tony reached a hand out to Steve even as Natasha, Clint, and Bruce all stepped onto the fence around Erik. "Cap? Care to take the fast option?"

"Ah, sure." He grasped Tony's gloved hand, and found himself pulled into the armor. Metallic arms closed around him, and the next moment, they were in the air.

He half expected Tony to make some kind of a stupid joke, but for once, he seemed too distracted to bother with such things. Tony was indeed faster than Erik, not that it was much of a surprise; unlike the metal manipulator, Tony didn't have to make sure his passenger didn't fall right off the flimsy platform.

They landed on Tony's landing site mere minutes later, and Tony set Steve down before walking through his disassembly line. They both hurried inside, Tony tugging down the sleeves of his flight suit where they had slid up during the mission.

"JARVIS?" Tony called out as soon as they stepped inside. "Any news?"

"I've been instructed to tell you that nothing is happening right now on that front."

"Ah." Steve tried not to be too disappointed. It made sense, really; hatching was supposed to take time. Not that he was an expert in alien reproduction, but the internet searches he had done on hatching in general indicated that it might take all day. "Would it be all right for us to go and see, though?"

"I'm sure there would be no opposition to that, should you wish to do so."

Steve took this as approval, rushing towards the nursery, Tony right at his heels. Even if nothing was happening right now, surely they could at least check in on the boys and the egg.

He wasn't entirely sure what he had expected. Teddy and Billy, definitely, probably both crouched down in front of the window of the incubator. What they found instead was Teddy holding something small and fragile in his arms, smiling broadly, while Billy stood next to him, a look of wonder on his face.

"Hi there." Teddy grinned, apparently talking to them even though he never took his eyes off the tiny creature in his arms. "Sorry for abandoning you like that."

"That — is that the baby?" Which, okay, was one of the stupidest questions Steve had asked in a good, long while. "But — I thought it was supposed to take a long time."

"For birds and lizards and such, sure. Probably for our species, too, from what my mother has told me. However, it seems our little one decided to kick her way out of the egg without much difficulty." Teddy touched the tiny nose gently with his fingertip. "Good thing Erik and Tony made that extra sturdy metal crib, huh?"

"Her?" Tony echoed, coming up to Steve's side. "So it's a girl?"

"Yeah. A sweet little baby girl. Far as we can tell she's got all her fingers and toes and other extremities, though we'd probably best have a doctor look her over just in case." Billy's eyes were shining in a way that had nothing to do with magic. "Isn't she gorgeous?"

"She is quite adorable, yes." Steve stepped closer, feeling almost hesitant. It had been a while since he had seen a newborn baby, long enough that he had forgotten just how small they were. The baby in Teddy's arms seemed to be almost drowning in her tiny white clothes, small hands clenched in tiny green fists, a tuft of golden hair stuck along the surface of her mostly bald head. "I see she takes after Teddy."

"Told you she's gorgeous." Billy reached over to take the child from his husband, carefully maneuvering her from Teddy's arms into his. "I'm kind of starting to wonder if I was involved in the process at all." He threw Teddy a teasing grin.

"Oh, I think I remember you being quite an active participant."

Steve looked at the child again to ignore the feeling of his ears starting to flush. The baby seemed to notice she was being held by someone else, little eyes blinking open to peer at Billy. She stared in his direction with the hazy, unfocused gaze of a small child. Her nose wrinkled up, and for a moment Steve was terrified that she might break her poor father's heart by starting to cry at the sight of him.

Then the baby sneezed and changed color.

"Well." Billy blinked, looking down at the child who now sported black hair and pink skin. "That was unexpected."

"I guess that answers the question of whether the shapeshifting was part of the package." Tony seemed to be about to add something just as the rest of the team arrived, rushing in all at once.

"I was informed there was a grandbaby." Erik clearly was making an effort to sound calm, but there was a sort of gleam in his eyes. "Are you going to introduce us?"

"Ah, yes, there is that." Teddy looked at the gathered team, reaching an arm around Billy's shoulders. "Everyone, we would like you to meet Margaret Sarah Lehnsherr." He paused, looking directly at Steve for a second. "We're thinking Peggy for short."

"That's — that's a wonderful name." Steve somehow managed to smile instead of crying like he very much felt like doing. "God help us all if she lives up to it."

Then there was more talking, congratulations and questions and requests for permission to hold the baby, and it took a moment until Steve got to talk to either of the boys. Finally he cornered Teddy, stepping up to him while Billy was instructing a somewhat bewildered Natasha on how to hold the child.

"You picked a beautiful name for her."

"We tried our best." Teddy smiled, his eyes directed to where Billy was fussing with the baby. "We figured she should have good role models for namesakes, and calling her Natasha would have gotten confusing."

"I'm sure she'll grow up to be a wonderful woman regardless of the name."

"We'll have to see about that." Teddy gave a slightly hysterical chuckle. "I mean, I'm still not sure we're up to this whole thing. I certainly have no idea what I'm doing."

"Oh, don't worry," Steve said, patting Teddy on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll figure it all out."

How could they not, with such a beautiful child to care for?

*

Teddy wasn't sure he could do this.

He was giving it his best try, certainly, but at the moment that was not amounting to much. All his attempts at calming Peggy down had failed, leaving him wandering around the Tower in the middle of the night, carrying a fussy baby. Billy had tried to help, but Teddy had sent him to bed in the end. No reason for both of them to be sleep deprived the next day.

It was as quiet as it ever got in the Tower, with Peggy's whines seeming to echo in the empty spaces. Teddy was walking along for his own sake now more than hers; it seemed no amount of movement would get her to calm.

"I wish you'd just tell me what's wrong, sweetie," he murmured, trying to keep the edge of desperation out of his voice. "Are you hurting? Is that it? I can't help you when I don't know how, darling..."

Peggy didn't respond, of course she didn't, that was far beyond her abilities. At least she wasn't downright screaming now, instead keeping up a steady stream of small, helpless cries. Teddy found himself echoing the sentiment. He was utterly helpless here, not able to give his little daughter any amount of comfort.

"Trying night?"

Teddy froze as another voice spoke up. He had just been passing the living room, and had noticed that the lights were on, but he hadn't realized that might mean anyone was still there. He paused in the doorway, looking in.

"Clint?" The archer was leaning over the back of the couch, his arms folded on it. "Sorry. I didn't realize anyone would be here at this hour."

"It's fine. I was up anyway." Clint hopped over the couch like it was nothing, walking closer. "Little princess won't settle, huh?"

"I'm afraid not." Teddy sighed. "I'm not sure what she wants. She's not hungry and I just changed her, but she just won't calm down."

"Hm." Clint took a look at Peggy. "May I try?"

"Huh? Ah, sure." Teddy carefully deposited her in Clint's arms, trying not to wince as he handed his little daughter over. No, he was not abandoning her or anything stupid like that, she was perfectly safe with Clint, after all.

It was hard to convince himself of that when he was already feeling like such a bad parent, though.

"You're giving trouble to your daddies, are you?" Clint tried rocking Peggy in his arms, to no avail. She didn't seem to even notice she had changed arms, and Teddy wasn't sure if he should be grateful for that or feel slightly betrayed that it apparently made no difference at all to his daughter just who was holding her. Again, it was ridiculous of him to think so, she was too small to know her own hands yet, never mind other people, but it wasn't easy to remember that when he was already feeling so very tired and miserable.

"She's been crying for at least an hour," Teddy murmured. "I just don't know what to do."

"Maybe she doesn't like it when it's quiet." At Teddy's incredulous gaze, Clint shrugged. "Well, she sleeps well enough during the day, right? Even though it's never really quiet here. So maybe she thinks it's weird that it's so quiet now?"

"We did try singing to her." They had tried everything. "Pretty much the first thing we did, once we knew she wasn't hungry or in need of a change."

"Well, maybe she's cried herself out by now." Clint glanced up. "JARVIS? Can I get the TV on? Doesn't really matter what, just keep the volume fairly low."

"Certainly, Agent Barton." The largest screen in the room lit up, filling the room with a low murmur of sound.

"I'm pretty sure I've been told not to use TV as a babysitter." Still, Peggy's whines seemed to quieten a bit. At least he hoped they did and he wasn't just imagining it.

"Totally different. Also, you've also been told not to let yourself get too exhausted. Or if you haven't, you definitely should have. What are we going to do if we get an alert tomorrow and you're too tired to even fly?" Clint paused. "Well. Later today, in any case."

"I can't just let her cry, though." For all that he couldn't seem to help her.

"And you're not, are you? You're doing your best." Clint looked down at Peggy. She still seemed a bit whiny. "Hey. She likes those little mittens Erik made for her, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Well, not that she can give her opinion on much of anything, but Billy swears she keeps brushing her cheeks when he puts them on her."

"Let's see if it's the texture that she likes." Without any further explanation, Clint walked over to the couch. Teddy followed him, curious. As he got closer he saw Clint picking up something from the couch with his free hand, then adjusted his hold of Peggy.

"Is that — a baby blanket?" Teddy blinked as he walked closer, watching as Clint carefully wrapped the blanket around Peggy. "That's — where did you get that?"

"Um. I actually just finished it." Clint looked a bit abashed, his fingers brushing against a stray bit of yarn that dangled from the corner of the blanket. "Well, finished sewing it together, in any case. Still a bit of touching up to do."

"Wait." Teddy blinked again. "You... knitted it?"

"Ah, yeah. I was planning to get it together by the time the princess arrived, but, well, I'm still pretty slow at it, and there were a lot more squares than you'd think before you have a blanket of a decent size. Don't really know why I even finished it, you've got better ones anyway, mine's all lumpy and skewed and I only used purple because I'm a selfish little brat. But, ah, it might make her think of her favorite mittens? And the booties, of course. It's the same yarn, I got the first ball from Erik and then bought more of the same."

"Oh." Teddy found himself struggling against tears, and he wasn't sure it was entirely due to exhaustion. Peggy was settling down, now, snuggled in the blanket that had apparently been put together from small squares in various shades of purple. "That's..."

"I know, I know. Stupid of me. But, well, I sometimes have trouble sleeping, and it's given me something to do, so there's that at least." Clint wouldn't quite meet his gaze, as though he'd done something wrong.

"Shut up." As Clint gave him a bewildered gaze, Teddy wiped at the tears that were starting to fall. "If you weren't holding Peggy right now, I'd give you such a big hug, you'd be crying for mercy."

"Is that a good thing? Because I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing."

"That's — that's just amazing." And, yeah, now he couldn't stop crying. "I can't believe you'd go to that much trouble just to — I don't care if it's lumpy or whatever, it's the prettiest blanket she could have."

"Okay, I think you're seriously in need of sleep now." Clint glanced down at Peggy, who was actually settling down to sleep. "You know what? You go back to bed, I'll stay here and watch TV with the princess. I'll bring her back when she wakes up again, because I'm not exactly equipped for feeding her or whatever, but with luck you'll at least get a bit of uninterrupted sleep."

"Ah. I really should —" Except she was already sleeping so peacefully, and he would have hated to disturb her.

"I told you, just go. It's not like it matters to her whether you're right here when she's asleep, and I'm not going to go to bed for a while anyway." As he still hesitated, Clint made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on before I change my mind. I promise I'll bring her by if she starts to cry again."

"Right." Teddy swallowed. "Ah. Thanks."

"No need to thank me." Clint gave him a surprisingly soft gaze. "You're doing fine, you know. Everyone needs a break sometimes, and I don't mind the company."

"If you're sure." Then, before he could get told off again, he turned to go.

He turned to look back one last time from the door. Clint was shifting through the channels now, looking quite comfortable with Peggy snoozing there on his arm. After a second, Teddy turned to go. He did need some sleep.

He still wasn't sure he could do this. Not on his own, anyway.

Good thing he would never have to do it all alone.


End file.
